Is There Some Ideological Convergence Between the FN and its Supporters? Analysing Supporters' Reaction to FN Facebook Posts

Over the past years the FN, under the leadership of Marine Le Pen, has experienced a political revival. By giving the FN a presentable outlook, the Front’s message is a continuation of the Front’s signature themes of immigration and insecurity and a reformulation of its populist message which includes the themes of Euro-globalization, anti-Brussels, and anti-Islamification. I want to explore, if any, which of these signature themes resonates the most with the party`s sympathizers. I analyze the sympathizers` reaction to FN articles posted on the social media platform Facebook. First, I classify par theme each of the more than 2,000 articles, which the FN has posted on its Facebook page. Second, I quantitatively count the number of likes each of the articles received and cluster them by theme. Third, and qualitatively, I analyze the comments of some of the most liked articles.