Did COVID-19 change the political communication of polarizing leaders? The case of Salvini's campaigning before and after the pandemic.

In recent years, political polarization saw a significant rise in many political systems. This revamped a scientific debate sparked decades ago, with different schools of thought debating on dynamics, factors, and causes of polarization itself. By looking at political elites' polarizing strategy-one of the factors on which various theories seem to converge-this article tackles the question concerning the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of political communication.