Zurich, September 21, 2023 - BCW, the leading global communications agency, today published the BCW Influence Index for Switzerland. Based on over 1 million data points, it shows that the noisiest politicians are not always influential but can significantly influence public discourse. Specifically, the Centre has the most political influence while the polar parties, SVP and SP, lead the public discourse.
The Influence Index Switzerland uses a unique methodology combining data-driven insights with empirical analysis to rank Swiss parliamentarians, revealing how much influence each politician has in parliament and in shaping public opinion. Influence refers to the ability to shape the political process in parliament or public discourse.
In the "Parliamentary Influence" ranking, Erich Ettlin and Benedikt Würth from the Centre and Carlo Sommaruga from the SP are the three most influential politicians.
The Centre is the strongest party in parliament in terms of political influence. Overall, the male Centre politicians dominate with 36.7% of the 30 politically most influential councillors (total of 11 Centre members). The FDP is the second most influential party. While the political parties each take a clear party position on issues such as climate change or migration, the Centre and the FDP each act as possible alliance partners and thus directly influence important political decisions.
Some single familiar faces, e.g., from the SVP, have little influence in parliament. Members of the Council of States are ahead in terms of political influence. The politically most influential councillors are on average older than the most influential parliamentarians in the public sector.
In the "Public Influence" ranking, members of the National Council from the political parties win the ranking: Roger Köppel/SVP, Cedric Wermuth and Eva Herzog from the SP.
The SP clearly achieved the most public attention last year. Both the male and female SP politicians are the most influential overall and dominate both councils. The majority of the FDP is in the middle of the field. The female FDP politicians are publicly more influential than their male party colleagues in both the National Council and the Council of States. This gender difference is particularly clear in the National Council.
In terms of public influence, National Council members of the political parties win the ranking. Without exception, all party presidents have great public influence and are among the 30 most publicly influential parliamentarians.
The following politicians perform best in the two rankings:
Top 10 Ranking | ||
Place | Parlamentary Influence | Public Influence |
1 | Erich Ettlin, Die Mitte | Roger Köppel, SVP |
2 | Benedikt Würth, Die Mitte | Cédric Wermuth, SP |
3 | Carlo Sommaruga, SP | Eva Herzog, SP |
4 | Damian Müller, FDP | Meret Schneider, Die Grünen |
5 | Peter Hegglin, Die Mitte | Esther Friedli, SVP |
6 | Hannes Germann, SVP | Mattea Meyer, SP |
7 | Beat Rieder, Die Mitte | Daniel Jositsch, SP |
8 | Pirmin Bischof, Die Mitte | Thierry Burkart, FDP |
9 | Damien Cottier, FDP | Jacqueline Badran, SP |
10 | Marco Romano, Die Mitte | Flavia Wasserfallen, SP |
About the study
The BCW Influence Index uses a data-driven methodology to measure who wields the most influence in parliament. The rankings are part of an empirical analysis. The results do not reflect any BCW endorsement of MPs or their positions.
Influence is measured by two largely independent dimensions:
- Parliamentary influence: the ability to influence legislation, shape the political agenda, win votes and gain positions of power.
- Public influence: the ability to gain visibility in the public sphere, reach audiences on the internet and in the media, gain public exposure and reach supporters for one's ideas.
A wide range of over 1 million data points have been collected based on a defined set of parameters. These are then combined to provide a single score for parliamentary influence and a single score for public influence using a statistical procedure called principle component analysis (PCA), an universally recognized statistical method for calculating indices.
The next index will analyse the newly elected parliament end of 2024.
Measurement period: The survey took place between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023.
The authors of the study: Dominik Banny, Timon Kohli, Basil Hofstetter, Silja Elmiger.
Full report available here: BCW Influence Index
The Swiss Political Influence Index is one of BCW’s political influence indices. More information here.
About BCW
BCW is the global communications agency built to move people. BCW partners with clients in the B2B, consumer, corporate, crisis management, healthcare, public affairs, purpose and technology sectors to set strategic direction for all communications and create powerful and unexpected ideas that earn attention. BCW uses earned media, paid media, creative technology, data, AI and an expanding suite of innovative capabilities to move people with power and precision to move its clients forward. BCW is a part of WPP (NYSE: WPP), a creative transformation company. For more information, visit www.bcw-global.com
