Retórica, poder y populismo : Un estudio comparativo del discurso político entre Pedro Sánchez (PSOE) y Santiago Abascal (VOX)

Sammanfattning: This study aims to look closely at a sample of the rhetoric used in the political scene in Spain today. The purpose is to see what rhetorical strategies leaders from two opposing parties, namely Pedro Sánchez (PSOE) and Santiago Abascal (VOX), use to convince voters of their own ideologies and opinions concerning the society. In addition, this study aims to see if populism, as a growing global trend, also can be found in their discourses. As populations are constantly exposed to political manipulation, investigations of political rhetoric is a continuous relevant research. The discourses chosen for this analysis were of approximately the same length, performed in nearby locations and time. A quantitative analysis was made where a list of frequently repeated words and their significance were drawn up and compared between the politicians. In addition, a qualitative analysis where the rhetorical strategies and criteria that highlight the ideological identity have been applied. The results obtained show a clear presence of populist rhetoric in the speech of Santiago Abascal (right party). To create a sense of national identity and group belonging with his listeners he used words such as Spaniards and Spain to a higher degree but also negative descriptions of others. Pedro Sánchez (left wing) also resorted to negative descriptions of others but differed by using number games to create a sense of credibility and inclusive language regarding gender.