Proximity as populist performance: A video data analysis of the 2023 Turkish elections

The performative approach to populism usually focuses on how populist leaders appeal to ‘the people’ through their speeches, stylistic choices and public appearances. Our study adopts a relational perspective to this literature by analysing the interaction between populist leaders and voters. To fully capture the relationship between populist leaders and their supporters, and how it differs from the rapport between non-populist politicians and their audiences, we study leader–voter interactions through the concept of proximity. Specifically, we compare the verbal, stylistic and physical dimensions of proximity that populist and non-populist leaders establish with their constituents, using Video Data Analysis (VDA) as our methodological tool and the 2023 Turkish presidential campaign as our case study. In doing so, our research advances the understanding of performative populism by highlighting the previously underexamined relational dynamics between populist leaders and their constituents. The case study further demonstrates how relationships between political leaders and voters, as well as populist performance, operate in practice in Türkiye.