The storytelling of the 2016 Portuguese presidential campaign. Rebelo de Sousa vs. Sampaio da Nóvoa

Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyse the storytelling of the political campaigns of the main candidates in the 2016 Portuguese presidential campaign: Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and António Sampaio da Nóvoa. The Methodology followed has been a content analysis of Characters and Plot in their announcement speeches, and news about their campaigns in newspapers Expresso and Público. The Results show that, in the analysis of newspapers, there is a relationship between the use of the villain and the election polls; the final state of equilibrium was the most used plot point by both candidates, as well as that Rebelo de Sousa’s narrative was based on the hero, while in Sampaio da Nóvoa’s the villain is a significant category.

Keywords:
Storytelling; Narrative; Political campaign; Portugal; Characters; Plot