L’offerta personalizzata degli sfidanti

Based on 2008 ITANES post-electoral survey data, this chapter analyzes the presidentialization of electoral supply, which resulted not only from Silvio Berlusconi’s campaign, but also from that of the Democratic Party leader Walter Veltroni. Comparing the structures of their approval ratings, it finds that Veltroni’s popularity was politically more crosscutting while Berlusconi’s was more polarizing, thus reflecting their respective campaign strategies. Among the four image dimensions considered – energy, competence, empathy, integrity – the centre-right leader outperformed his opponent on the first one, but was overwhelmed on that of integrity.