Euroscepticism behind the Victory of Eurosceptic Parties in the 2018 Italian General Election? Not Exactly

While the victory of eurosceptic parties in the 2018 election is a matter of fact, whether euroscepticism was one of the main explanations for it remains to be determined. Thus, the goal of this contribution is to assess exactly the role played by euroscepticism in the outcome of the 2018 Italian general election. For this purpose, we try to see how and to what extent EU‐related issues were able to shape parties' strategies and voters' preferences. More specifically, we examine, on the one hand, the emphasis given to them by the parties both in their manifestos and in their official Twitter feeds during the electoral campaign, and, on the other hand, the voters' preferences and priorities on those issues and, in comparison, on other issues.