Replication Data for: Connecting through the void: Distress, participation and the electoral success of the Five Star Movement

This article offers a theoretical and empirical explanation for the role played by Internet-organised meetups in the dramatic rise of the Five Star Movement, which created in 2009 obtained respectively 25 and 32\% in the Italian general elections in 2013 and 2018. The article uses metadata from 234,000 meetings along with electoral, census and survey data to empirically support a theoretical model that sees the diffusion of Internet-organised onsite events as functional in increasing the frequency of political talks which then positively affects voting for the Movement. The article identifies very low levels of political trust -- the \emph{void} distancing people from parties -- a critical factor facilitating both political participation and political talks among the Movement's voters. Social capital, as locally measured, is not observed to be an essential provider of organisation resources for the emergence of local forms of participation in support of the Movement. This suggests that Internet technologies can facilitate the rise of new political movements by offering a communication and organisation platform that compensates the limited access to resources offered by the mainstream media and by established and diffused organisation networks.