How should traditional political parties counter narratives from populist parties? This column reports on an experiment during a constitutional referendum held in Italy in 2020 in which two different videos ads were broadcast to voters. A video with a direct attack on the credibility of the populist politicians was more effective in capturing viewers’ attention and in affecting the electoral results than a video providing partisan informational content. Given the low cost of advertising compared with the cost of face-to-face or phone canvassing for more votes, when devising their strategy to respond to populist parties on populist issues, traditional parties may wish to consider demobilisation rather than persuasion.
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