Kampania prezydencka w Polsce w 2020 roku odbywała się w czasie pierwszej fali pandemii COVID-19. Celem artykułu jest próba odpowiedzi na pytanie, w jakim stopniu problematyka pandemii była eksponowana we wpisach kandydatów w mediach społecznościowych. Przedmiotem badań były przekazy opublikowane na Facebooku i Twitterze. Szczególną uwagę zwrócono na treści rozpowszechniane przez cieszących się największym poparciem społecznym Andrzeja Dudę i Rafała Trzaskowskiego. Głównymi metodami wykorzystanymi w badaniach były analiza zawartości oraz wtórna analiza danych zastanych. Badania dowiodły, że kandydaci starali się prowadzić kampanię wzorem poprzednich, wyraźnie akcentując istotną rolę relacji z bezpośrednich spotkań z wyborcami. Wątek związany z pandemią, szczególnie na finiszu kampanii, był jedynie incydentalnie wspominany w przekazach.
 

The COVID-19 pandemic in social media communication strategies of the main candidates in the presidential election in Poland in 2020

The presidential campaign in Poland in 2020 took place during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the article is to try to answer the question to what extent the pandemic problem was exposed in candidates’ entries in social media. The subject of the research were messages published on Facebook and Twitter. Particular attention was paid to the content disseminated by Andrzej Duda and Rafał Trzaskowski. The main methods used in the research were content analysis and secondary analysis of existing data. The research proved that the candidates became campaigners like the previous ones, clearly emphasizing the important role of reports from direct meetings with voters. The pandemic thread, especially at the end of the campaign, was only incidentally mentioned in the messages.

Keywords: election campaign, presidential elections, COVID-19 pandemic, election communication strategies, social media.

The presidential campaign in Poland in 2020 took place during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the article is to try to answer the question to what extent the pandemic problem was exposed in candidates’ entries in social media. The subject of the research were messages published on Facebook and Twitter. Particular attention was paid to the content disseminated by Andrzej Duda and Rafał Trzaskowski. The main methods used in the research were content analysis and secondary analysis of existing data. The research proved that the candidates became campaigners like the previous ones, clearly emphasizing the important role of reports from direct meetings with voters. The pandemic thread, especially at the end of the campaign, was only incidentally mentioned in the messages.