The study began on Wednesday, 7 May 2014, and will end on Wednesday, 21 May 2014. It is being carried out simultaneously with universities in seven other European countries: Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom and Sweden. The objective is to determine to what extent social leaders, such as high-profile singers, actors and celebrities, influence how EU citizens vote in European Parliamentary elections.

The researchers are using a short online survey with key questions that will determine to what extent votes can be influenced by campaigns involving social leaders. A second phase of the study will compare the results among the different countries in order to analyse and understand the social, communicative and sociological differences among the different national electorates in the European Union.

The study will strengthen the UIC Faculty of Communication Sciences’ research area in political communication through the publication of high-impact academic articles about the European Union, an area of decision making that is becoming more and more important in the daily lives of EU citizens.

The survey, which takes only ten minutes, can be found at https://www.soscisurvey.de/EU-election2014/?r=esp. The entire university community (especially students) is encouraged to participate so that the results are as reliable and representative as possible. The study will allow the UIC to strengthen its academic relations with other European universities and continue to encourage and strengthen its Erasmus exchange programmes and internship agreements with European institutions.