On Friday, 3 December 2021 from 14:00-15:30 CET, the European Movement International held a Democracy Table discussion with Polish stakeholders to present the public opinion poll results from Listen to Europe: Reaching Beyond our Base Audience (LTE).

Listen to Europe is a long-term initiative aimed at helping civil society to set up targeted and informed campaigning based on data and segmentation of audiences. To this end, we have conducted public opinion surveys and social media listening to investigate drivers of citizens’ behaviour as well as the main topics and narratives present on social media in each of the eight project countries. We have examined the attitudes of European citizens towards the EU and democracy, along with their opinions about specific issues like the environment, immigration, gender equality and human rights.

Now that the results of the poll are analysed and ready, we held an online event with the intention to share and discuss the findings of our research.

The purpose of the meeting was to share the polling results and discuss audience segmentation, framing, targeting, communications and campaigns related to democracy and specific issues that civil society tries to promote and advocate for.

The livestream is available here:

AGENDA

Introduction by Petros Fassoulas, Secretary General of the European Movement International
14:00 Presentation of the social media listening report by Maja Sawicka, Department of Sociology and Digital Economy Lab (DELab) of the University of Warsaw
14:50 Presentation of the opinion poll findings and potential practical implications – how to use the data, by Matthew MacWilliams
15:10 Discussion
15:30 End

The ‘Democracy Table’ is aimed at CSOs, academics, think tanks and other organisations and individuals who want to equip their campaigns, shape their communications and test their narratives. Click here for an overview of previous Democracy Table events.

ABOUT

Matthew C. MacWilliams is a scholar, and a recognized expert on authoritarianism. His research on President Donald Trump and authoritarianism sparked international debate and is at the heart of his latest book, On Fascism: 12 Lessons From American History.

Matthew MacWilliams is a long-time political professional and an award-winning practitioner of American politics. He established MacWilliams Sanders Communications — a campaign- and issues-driven media strategy firm — more than 20 years ago.

He earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Massachusetts and studied at the University of Pennsylvania for his bachelor’s degree.

Some of Matthew’s recent work:  

• Matthew C. MacWilliams. “Trump Is an Authoritarian. So Are Millions of Americans.” Politico
• Matthew C. MacWilliams.“The best predictor of Trump support isn’t income, education, or age. It’s authoritarianism.” Vox
• Matthew C. MacWilliams. “Forecasting Congressional Elections Using Facebook Data.” PS: Political Science & Politics. 48(04).

Komons is a social organization based in Madrid, conceived to harness the potential of data, technology and collective action to face the big challenges of our century. It has a unique expertise in digital analysis and media research, communications strategies, movement and community-building and evaluation that allows us, as practitioners, to enhance our collective intelligence and accelerate social change processes. Komons has applied these hybrid methods toward campaigning, activism, strategic communication, narrative change and e-democracy and e-governance processes.