La campagna presidenziale e l'offerta simbolica dei leader

The 2007 Presidential elections witnessed a change in the degree of personalization of the campaign and in the affirmation of an unprecedented ‘symbolic supply’ proposing a new type of political leadership, presidential style and relationship with public opinion. This contribution places the 2007 Presidential campaign within a longer time frame, i.e the mid-term context of a permanent campaign involving the main challengers over the preceding years. Using the results of a number of published opinion polls and data from the Cevipof barometer, it analyzes the following: public opinion trends in the pre-campaign period; the extraordinary ‘communicational mobilization’ created by the official campaign; the converging presidential styles of the main candidates, and the causes of the formation of a final climate of opinion leading to Nicolas Sarkozy’s election.