The PP leads the Digital Power of political teams with a pre-campaign marked by its social media strategy

The Partido Popular has found in social networks one of its main pre-campaign scenarios for the general elections of 29 November. Electoral videos, memes, montages with artificial intelligence, and responses to PSOE posts form part of a digital activity that coincides with the leadership of the conservatives in the ranking of teams of Poder Digital.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s party obtains 71.4 points out of 100, ahead of the PSOE, with 68.2, and Vox, with 59.7, according to the latest data from the tool developed by Vinces and published by DEMÓCRATA. The score corresponds to the average of its ten representatives with the greatest digital influence.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso heads that team with 83 points, followed by Feijóo and Xavier García Albiol, both with 78. The three are part of a profile structure that allows the PP to spread its messages beyond its official account, although the latter also maintains intense activity during the weeks prior to the elections.

Ayuso leads the team in Poder Digital

The president of the Community of Madrid is the conservative leader with the highest score and holds fourth place nationally. Her 83 points allow her to beat Feijóo and Albiol by five, who share second position within the party.

The top group is completed by Hugo Manchón García, with 76 points, and Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, with 75. The first five members of the popular team appear among the ten best-ranked profiles in Spain.

Behind them appear Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla (69), Ester Muñoz (66), María José Catalá (63), Juan Ignacio Zoido (63) and Jon Echeverría (63).

What is the PP’s strategy on social media?

The digital pre-campaign by the conservatives combines traditional campaign messages with a much more direct format: responding to the opponent with images, brief videos, and humorous references recognizable to users.

On October 5, after the election call, Feijóo spread the message "At last we will be able to choose", which the PP turned into one of its first pre-campaign contents. The party linked the elections to the possibility of a change of Government and brought back issues such as housing, the economy, and corruption.

But much of the content that has generated conversation does not focus on electoral proposals. The popular account has also used artificial intelligence to respond to the messages of Pedro Sánchez.

One of the most striking examples came after the PSOE shared a photograph of the president kissing his wife, Begoña Gómez. The PP transformed the image using artificial intelligence to show a fictional kiss between Sánchez and José Luis Ábalos, accompanied by the message "The campaign photo". The post achieved nearly three million views on X.

The response to "Yes, I’m left-handed", the video with which Sánchez claimed his management against the criticisms of Javier Milei, was even more controversial. The Popular Party circulated a recording generated with artificial intelligence in which fictional versions of Begoña Gómez, Ábalos, Koldo García, Santos Cerdán and other characters linked to the PSOE appeared.

The content surpassed two million views on X. The PSOE announced that it would study legal actions and Leire Díez filed a complaint against the PP for its appearance in the edit. Feijóo defended the use of these videos, although he acknowledged that he had not previously known the content of one of them.

Memes, quick replies, and an increasingly harsher political conversation

Humor also takes center stage in popular posts, especially when it allows one to respond to a recent statement or controversy.

After Montse Mínguez resigned as spokesperson for the PSOE, the PP turned to the meme "Absolute Cinema", a common reference on the internet for reacting ironically to attention-grabbing situations.

Another post mocked an injury that Óscar Puente suffered in 2023 with the message "Miedo le tenías tú a un esguince". The then minister, who also makes practically daily use of digital platforms, responded harshly to the popular account.

Speed is one of the hallmarks of this communication. A photograph, an intervention, or a declaration from the PSOE can be turned into a montage or a response video in just a few hours.

Feijóo, Ayuso and Albiol expand the party’s digital presence

Alongside the official account, the PP has leaders with their own communities and activities on social networks.

Feijóo, second in the popular team with 78 points, combines electoral messages with posts about his acts and interviews in the electoral pre-campaign, during which he also gave prominence to other party leaders, such as Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo or Ester Muñoz.

On October 18, during an event in Barcelona, he announced that Xavier García Albiol would lead the bill proposal against squatting. The mayor of Badalona, who also reaches 78 points, appears among the three most prominent profiles in the popular team.

For her part, Ayuso holds first place internally with 83 points, above both of them. Her position reflects the performance of her profile on social media, with controversial statements extracted from fragments of videos of her interviews and public interventions.

In addition, the presence of national, regional, and municipal leaders on the different social platforms allows the PP to maintain several lines of communication simultaneously.

The PSOE has more representatives, but the PP gets a better average

The PP’s leadership among the teams presents a contrast with the PSOE. The socialists have 25 representatives among the first one hundred in Spain, compared with 18 for the Popular Party, but obtain a lower score when calculating the average of their ten strongest profiles.

The PSOE reaches 68.2 points, with 456 members measured out of a total of 790. Vox occupies third position with 59.7 points and twelve representatives among the first one hundred. Se Acabó la Fiesta appears fourth with 57.2 points, followed by Podemos (53.5) and Frente Amplio (53).

The ranking changes when consulting only the official accounts. Vox gets 77.9 points, the PSOE reaches 76.4 and the PP is left at 71.2. The popular party thus occupies first place by teams, but fifth by its official account.

See here the complete ranking of the digital race of the candidates for the Presidency of the Government on 29N: