Research & Politics

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New study by Molly Offer-Westort et al. tests an AI social media agent for deep canvassing on anti-transgender prejudice. Personalized NLP messaging shows positive effects, pointing to scalable—but limited—alternatives to in-person outreach.

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Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

New article by @algaraca.bsky.social, Byengseon Bae, @edwardheadington.bsky.social, Hengjiang Liu, Bianca Nigri and Lisette Gomez uses presidential approval, party brands and polling gaps to forecast 2024 U.S. elections, improving on standard models.

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From citizen input to a more egalitarian agenda: Public inquiries and the policy agenda - Hen Hana Kersenti Feldman, Ilana Shpaizman, 2025 Public inquiries serve as a path for citizens to convey daily grievances directly to politicians, seeking resolutions. This paper examines their role as an info...

Political agendas ignore the poor's preferences. Hen Hana Kersenti Feldman and Ilana Shpaizman show that Israel's Knesset Public Inquiries Committee (CPI) exposes MPs to citizen grievances, boosting representation of lower- and middle-class issues.

Read more: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Revisiting name recognition and candidate support: Experimental tests of the mere exposure hypothesis - Costas Panagopoulos, Donald P. Green, Philip Moniz, 2025 Often lacking adequate information to guide their votes, voters may be susceptible to subtle psychological influences, including name recognition. For decades, ...

New study by @professorcostas.bsky.social, Green & Moniz tests the “mere exposure” effect in real-world elections. Across 3 experiments, simply seeing challengers’ names doesn’t boost support—even with party labels. Name recognition alone ≠ votes.

Read more: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Toxicity and U.S. Senate candidate Twitter messaging in the 2022 election - Jeffrey A. Stone, 2025 Social media has had a transformative effect on politics and governance. While research into the consequences of social media use on politics and governance is ...

@stonejpsu.bsky.social analyzes X posts from 2022 U.S. Senate candidates to assess alignment with prevailing toxicity perceptions. Findings indicate generally low toxicity, with notable temporal and group-level variation.

Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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@mollyow.bsky.social et al. test climate-policy framing in a 2,300+ U.S. RCT: scientific, religious, moral, and economic (efficiency vs equity). Policy-learning shows efficiency most boosts support, across parties.

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Anderson, Byles, Calianos, Francis, Kot, Mosk, Seo, Vizbaras & Nyhan: boosting warmth toward the other party didn’t change intent to share true/false news or discernment. But accuracy reminders modestly improved discernment among political news sharers.
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@adamramey.bsky.social warns Big Five–politics findings may be distorted by who completes surveys. New data show Agreeable & Neurotic respondents finish at different rates, shifting estimated trait–behavior links—watch for selection bias.

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Darren Hawkins, Joshua R. Gubler, Celeste Beesley, Tayla Ingles & Julia Chatterley: Spain 2022 experiment (~2,000) priming corruption/unemployment lowered support for democracy in general, but not civil liberties or checks on executives.

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Stereotypes and scandals: Politician gender and public judgments about scandal in Mexico - Fernanda Quintanilla Domínguez, Rebecca Bell-Martin, Brett Ryan Bessen, 2025 This article examines how politician gender shapes voter judgments about political scandal in Mexico. We test the hypothesis that individuals discount or disbel...

Gender stereotypes shape scandal reactions. Fernanda Quintanilla Domínguez, @rbellmartin.bsky.social & Brett Ryan Bessen find that in Mexico, women accused of “out-of-character” misconduct were rated more favorably—especially by benevolent sexists.

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Gauging preference stability under authoritarianism - Jennifer Pan, Yiqing Xu, 2025 Do people living under authoritarianism exhibit stable, constrained preferences? Autocrats have incentives to suppress the formation of stable preferences struc...

Jennifer Pan & Yiqing Xu: Do people in autocracies hold stable prefs? 3 China surveys show views: institutions, econ policy, nationalism, social values & ethnic policy stay stable for months—like democracies. Stability rises with education/knowledge.

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Strict voter identification laws and turnout: Differential effects by election type and adoption timing - Rivka Lipkovitz, 2025 Voter identification (ID) requirements remain a contested policy issue in American elections, with existing research producing mixed findings about their causal...

Using synthetic difference-in-differences, this study by Rivka Lipkovitz finds that strict voter ID laws have no net effect on turnout, with modest heterogeneous effects by election type and adoption timing that may explain prior conflicting results.

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Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

New article by @algaraca.bsky.social, Byengseon Bae, @edwardheadington.bsky.social, Hengjiang Liu, Bianca Nigri and Lisette Gomez uses presidential approval, party brands and polling gaps to forecast 2024 U.S. elections, improving on standard models.

Read more: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

Nils-Christian Bormann and Simon Hug ask:

Do proportional representation rules induce power-sharing coalition and thereby decrease conflict risk? No! But formally mandated executive power-sharing institutions do.

Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Seeing is believing: Voluntary gender quotas change female leadership stereotypes - Vladimir Chlouba, 2025 Can gender quotas voluntarily adopted by political parties alter stereotypical views about women in politics? This article examines Namibia’s SWAPO, an electora...

Can voluntary gender quotas shift views on women in politics? Vladimir Chlouba’s study of Namibia’s SWAPO finds that a 50/50 quota increased women’s belief in equal political access—without backlash from men, reshaping perceptions of leadership.

Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

From citizen input to a more egalitarian agenda: Public inquiries and the policy agenda - Hen Hana Kersenti Feldman, Ilana Shpaizman, 2025 Public inquiries serve as a path for citizens to convey daily grievances directly to politicians, seeking resolutions. This paper examines their role as an info...

Political agendas ignore the poor's preferences. Hen Hana Kersenti Feldman and Ilana Shpaizman show that Israel's Knesset Public Inquiries Committee (CPI) exposes MPs to citizen grievances, boosting representation of lower- and middle-class issues.

Read more: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Revisiting name recognition and candidate support: Experimental tests of the mere exposure hypothesis - Costas Panagopoulos, Donald P. Green, Philip Moniz, 2025 Often lacking adequate information to guide their votes, voters may be susceptible to subtle psychological influences, including name recognition. For decades, ...

New study by @professorcostas.bsky.social, Green & Moniz tests the “mere exposure” effect in real-world elections. Across 3 experiments, simply seeing challengers’ names doesn’t boost support—even with party labels. Name recognition alone ≠ votes.

Read more: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Toxicity and U.S. Senate candidate Twitter messaging in the 2022 election - Jeffrey A. Stone, 2025 Social media has had a transformative effect on politics and governance. While research into the consequences of social media use on politics and governance is ...

@stonejpsu.bsky.social analyzes X posts from 2022 U.S. Senate candidates to assess alignment with prevailing toxicity perceptions. Findings indicate generally low toxicity, with notable temporal and group-level variation.

Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Seeing is believing: Voluntary gender quotas change female leadership stereotypes - Vladimir Chlouba, 2025 Can gender quotas voluntarily adopted by political parties alter stereotypical views about women in politics? This article examines Namibia’s SWAPO, an electora...

Can voluntary gender quotas shift views on women in politics? Vladimir Chlouba’s study of Namibia’s SWAPO finds that a 50/50 quota increased women’s belief in equal political access—without backlash from men, reshaping perceptions of leadership.

Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Do congressional candidates benefit from rejecting PAC contributions? Evidence from a pre-registered candidate evaluation survey experiment - Michelangelo Landgrave, Nicholas R. Jenkins, Aubree J. Har... Do congressional candidates benefit electorally from the public’s disdain of political action committees (PACs)? Despite the large sums of money given by PACs, ...

@landgravephd.bsky.social, Nicholas R. Jenkins & Aubree J. Hardesty show that voters across parties trust, donate to & support candidates who reject PAC money—penalizing those who accept it. Campaign financing choices clearly shape perceptions.

Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

New research by Baccini, @costinciobanu.bsky.social & Pelc: Offshoring shocks can increase support for leaders with authoritarian traits, while automation does not. A reminder that different economic changes shape politics in very different ways.

Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

Hansol Kwak’s study finds protest mobilization depends not on absolute repression, but on how it deviates from expectations. Results show a U-shaped pattern: participation rises when repression is higher *or* lower than established baselines.

Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

New study by Ko, Downes, Leung & Ming shows populist governments weaken climate readiness, with left-wing populists driving the sharpest decline. Findings highlight how ideology shapes whether nations advance or regress in climate preparedness.

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Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

Andreas Graefe’s Issues and Leaders model shows how voter perceptions of competence and leadership shape elections. Forecasting the 2024 race, it captured a tight contest and highlights the value of dynamic, forward-looking electoral analysis.

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Taken at face value: Emotion expression and protest dynamics - Ishaan S. Prasad, Zachary C. Steinert-Threlkeld, 2025 Understanding the role of emotions in protest is a growing field of research, but existing research does not address the role of emotions once protests start. B...

In a new study by Ishaan S. Prasad & @zacharyst.bsky.social, they analyze 37k+ faces from protests in 10 countries, showing emotions like anger, fear & happiness co-occur and covary with protest dynamics, rather than directly causing them.

Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

Nils-Christian Bormann and Simon Hug ask:

Do proportional representation rules induce power-sharing coalition and thereby decrease conflict risk? No! But formally mandated executive power-sharing institutions do.

Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Do congressional candidates benefit from rejecting PAC contributions? Evidence from a pre-registered candidate evaluation survey experiment - Michelangelo Landgrave, Nicholas R. Jenkins, Aubree J. Har... Do congressional candidates benefit electorally from the public’s disdain of political action committees (PACs)? Despite the large sums of money given by PACs, ...

@landgravephd.bsky.social, Nicholas R. Jenkins & Aubree J. Hardesty show that voters across parties trust, donate to & support candidates who reject PAC money—penalizing those who accept it. Campaign financing choices clearly shape perceptions.

Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

New research by Baccini, @costinciobanu.bsky.social & Pelc: Offshoring shocks can increase support for leaders with authoritarian traits, while automation does not. A reminder that different economic changes shape politics in very different ways.

Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

A new study by Niels Bjørn Grund Petersen, Rasmus Tue Pedersen & Mads Thau shows that while info on online abuse doesn’t reduce tolerance, it boosts willingness to support politicians or report abusive comments.

Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

Hansol Kwak’s study finds protest mobilization depends not on absolute repression, but on how it deviates from expectations. Results show a U-shaped pattern: participation rises when repression is higher *or* lower than established baselines.

Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...