Do websites influence the nature of voting intentions? The case of two national elections in Greece

This paper aims to contribute to the growing body of research on online political marketing by investigating the use of websites as a marketing tool in the 2007 and 2009 general elections in Greece. The two main research objectives are firstly to establish the key factors affecting voters’ trust when it comes to using politicians’ websites and secondly to examine whether and to what extent the influence of trust-building factors changes over-time, as the online environment matures. The key findings of this research are that users tend to visit the websites of favoured candidates, which reinforces their positive perceptions of them, while as far as the websites themselves and their content and the services provided are concerned there is still room for improvement.

► Perceptions of favoured candidates improve following a visit to their website.
► Perceptions of unfavoured candidates worsen following a visit to their website.
► Users are more sceptical of information found on politicians’ websites than elsewhere.
► In 2009, 6.9% more voters (total 26.7%) visited multiple parties’ candidates’ sites.
► Online programmatic statements and candidate communication met expectations in 2009.