Emotions in Campaigning: The Impact of Influencer Mariana Rodríguez in the Nuevo León Elections

Abstract

This research analyzed the emotional contagion of posts by the Mexican influencer Mariana Rodríguez on Instagram during the 2021 electoral campaign for the governorship of Nuevo León, in which her husband, Samuel García, was elected. Using a mixed-methods approach that combined quantitative and qualitative analysis, the emotions expressed in both Rodríguez’s posts and user comments were examined. The findings show that the predominant emotion was happiness, a high-arousal positive emotion, which prompted followers to actively engage through “likes,” comments, and shares. This emotional contagion not only enhanced the candidate Samuel García’s image but also positioned the couple as significant figures in the campaign’s political narrative. Additionally, emojis and specific expressions like “fosfo fosfo” emerged as symbols of party support, highlighting the importance of linguistic and visual resources in building political identity on social media. This study underscores the role of influencers in digital political communication and calls for updating emotional analysis tools to reflect the evolution of digital language on social platforms.