“We set ourselves the goal of conducting the most modern online election campaign in Austria,” and they even want to top that of Sebastian Kurz in 2017 – “where one has to admit enviously” that it was the “first data-driven campaign”. A ten-person social media team works around the clock, answering every comment on a post, according to Brockmeyer, “we only delete hate postings”. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and – especially for the young voters – YouTube are used, and people are not active on Tiktok.
Brockmeyer does not want to reveal which target groups he has defined. But he sees the SP especially among the young families “in a match with the VP” and also in competition with the Greens. He’s less likely to believe that voters can be brought back from the FP. “They’re long lost, they won’t come back.” The SP lost to the FP in the 1990s in particular, and less so in the last state elections, says the state manager, who agrees not to give so much to the voter flow analyzes, which in 2015 did see an outflow of red voters in the direction of blue.
In addition to the digital campaign, there is of course also a classic election campaign with posters. There are also around 150 “Bei dir” events – a town hall format for 150 to 180 people each – and three major events. 28,000 first-time voters are written to, and the Linzer SP is also planning a telephone campaign.
