On Tuesday, 18 January, from 15:00-16:30 CET (14:00-15:30 WET) the European Movement International and the Portuguese National Youth Council held a Democracy Table discussion 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 are holding online events with the intention to share and discuss the findings of our research.

The purpose of the meetings is 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.

How committed are Portuguese citizens to democracy?

Is there a strong strain of authoritarianism embedded in the Portuguese view of the world?

What are Portuguese attitudes towards the EU’s Economic Recovery Plan, economic inequality, climate change, women’s rights, immigration, human rights?

To find it out, you can watch the replay of our event for a presentation on the latest opinion poll data and analysis from our ‘Listen to Europe’ project. 

The event was streamed live on the European Movement’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn pages.

The broadcast replay is available here:

AGENDA
Introduction by Petros Fassoulas, Secretary General of the European Movement International
15:00 Presentation of the opinion poll findings by Matthew MacWilliams
15:45 Presentation of the social media listening report, by Rebeca Díez Escudero, Komons
16:00 Discussion
16:20 Potential practical implications – how to use the data, by Matthew MacWilliams
16:30 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.

This one-hour, digital event was organised under the Chatham House Rule: participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant may be revealed.