Marta Vukovic

🚨 New in Nature+Science!🚨
AI chatbots can shift voter attitudes on candidates & policies, often by 10+pp
🔹Exps in US Canada Poland & UK
🔹More “facts”→more persuasion (not psych tricks)
🔹Increasing persuasiveness reduces "fact" accuracy
🔹Right-leaning bots=more inaccurate

What happens when a minority decides for the majority?

On Sunday, Swiss citizens head to the polls again. But Switzerland remains one of the most exclusionary democracies in the OECD.

In highly cosmopolitan places like Basel-Stadt, only 50.5% of all residents were entitled to vote (as of 2024)

"We can no longer trust that survey responses are coming from real people," Westwood said in a press release. "With survey data tainted by bots, AI can poison the entire knowledge ecosystem.” www.404media.co/a-researcher...

A reminder of the day:

“I tell my students, 'When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”

Toni Morrison

🚨New paper out in @jeppjournal.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1080/1350...

@manuelwagner.bsky.social & I re-conceptualize class representation to take into account social mobility between classes and variation in how individuals enter politics.

I absolutely loooved reading this book! On top of what you said, I think it takes a topic that’s been written about so many times and still manages to find a really fresh, interesting angle. I haven’t read as many books as you have this year, but this one has been my fave so far :)

“It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.”

RIP Jane Goodall

Today marks the first day in public media’s history without federal funding. And we’re not going anywhere.

Listeners like you keep our mission alive. Protect one of the last places where America comes together to hear itself.

Stand with us today. Donate at this link: n.pr/46wamAj

New publication with @kgattermann.bsky.social :
“Does media framing of election results affect whether voters perceive parties as election winners or losers?”
@polstudies.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1177/0032...

A short 🧵:

🎉🎉🎉 Extremely proud of @manuelwagner.bsky.social who yesterday defended his excellent PhD thesis on the political representation of the working class.

Big thanks to co-supervisor Nick Carnes & committee members @noamlupu.bsky.social, @denisetraber.bsky.social & @thomasmmeyer.bsky.social)!

The Development of an Issue Public: Evidence from The Eras Tour | The Journal of Politics: Vol 0, No ja

We have a JOP article about how swifties ~randomly denied tickets to the eras tour due to website allocation errors changed their views on related policies
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...

Trump post: Because of the fact that Rosie O'Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship. She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

I think you should be able to say things the president doesn’t like and still be a citizen. Maybe we should write that down somewhere.

Serbia: Media freedom continues to decline at alarming speed, EU must take action The undersigned journalists and media freedom organisations are profoundly appalled by the new attacks against journalists across Serbia, many of which ...

‪European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)‬
#Serbia: We urge the EU to respond to the ongoing repression of journalists, students and civil societies, also being perpetrated by state representatives and law enforcement officers. Absolute indifference must stop. The EU must take action.

I can only echo this - very excited to finally see this out in print!

For anyone interested in (citizens' meanings of) voting, political participation, and the use of open-ended questions in public opinion research across countries 💡

Your First Draft Is Supposed to Be Bad. Congratulations! Letting Go of Perfection So the Real Work Can Begin

In every writing process, there’s a time when nothing works.

When everything looks like a mess: No argument, no structure, no nothing.

If that’s where you’re, congratulations!

You’re doing it right.

👉 My latest Respect the Marble post: catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/your-first...

🧵

@annaliabrunetti.bsky.social
@beluabdala.bsky.social
@christinagahn.bsky.social
@beatrizlasherasmas.bsky.social
@isabellareb.bsky.social
@frawin.bsky.social
@jzmarlier.bsky.social

Doing important things at @epsanet.bsky.social …like locating the one veg canapé at the reception 👀
@stawi-univie.bsky.social
@bseisl.bsky.social
@mkaltenegger.bsky.social
@alexanderdalheimer.bsky.social
@marvins.bsky.social
@elenaheinz.bsky.social
@mascakir.bsky.social
@thomasmmeyer.bsky.social

🚨 Big News for European Political Science 🚨

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the European Political Science Society (EPSS): a new, member-led, not-for-profit association built to support our scholarly community.

🔗 epssnet.org

Here’s a thread with everything you need to know.

🧵

Proportion of Papers by Year and Team Type

Excited to kick off #EPSA2025 on Day 1, Panel 1! 🎉

I’ll present my co-authored research with @michaelimre.bsky.social on 50 years of gender representation in political science publications. We analyze nearly 100,000 articles across 72 journals to uncover long-term trends. 🔍

@epsanet.bsky.social

I wonder if appeals to self-interest on immigration—rather than, say, appeals to fairness or due process—might move Republicans? For example, does telling people mass deportation will weaken social security shift any attitudes?

Linus Westheuser: "Die SPD muss bereit sein, sich mit den ökonomischen Eliten anzulegen" Hat die SPD die Arbeiter verloren, weil sie zu viel über das Bürgergeld redet? Unsinn, findet der Soziologe Linus Westheuser. Die SPD brauche ein völlig anderes Konzept.

Interview bei ZEIT ONLINE:

Hat die SPD die Arbeiter verloren, weil sie zu viel über das Bürgergeld redet? Unsinn, findet der Soziologe Linus Westheuser. Die SPD brauche ein völlig anderes Konzept. Sie muss bereit sein, sich mit den ökonomischen Eliten anzulegen.

www.zeit.de/politik/deut...

🚨 working paper (w. @morganlcj.bsky.social @markuswagner.bsky.social): Protesters are not judged equally - even if tactics of groups are similar.

We ran an experiment in 🇩🇪 testing how people react to farmers vs. climate activists blocking roads.

What we find is disturbing:

osf.io/preprints/os...

good_description/good_description_ddk_agb.pdf at main · ddekadt/good_description Homepage of "Good Description" by Daniel de Kadt & Anna Grzymala-Busse - ddekadt/good_description

🚨 “Good Description” with @annagbusse.bsky.social 🚨

What sets 'good' description apart from 'mere' description?

We develop a framework for evaluating descriptive research, whether we are doing it as scholars or assessing it as readers.

Two main contributions...

🔗📄 tinyurl.com/gooddesc

Thank you!!

Thanks Matthias!

Thank you! 😊

🛡️ Democracy’s defenders need knowledge, not just ideals.

The AUTHLIB project investigates Europe’s illiberal challenges and offers tools for action.

📩 Sign up to receive our research highlights, event news, and policy insights: www.authlib.eu/newsletter/

🎓📅 Interestingly, there’s not too much difference across age or education levels, so it’s not just about how old you are or what you learned in school. 👀

We also see some differences in who is more likely to endorse a specific narrative, with people on the left & less authoritarian being more willing to admit to Italy’s active role in the war. Right-wing & more authoritarian folks? Not as much.

🇮🇹 Italians’ memory of WWII is still divided.
➡️~ 50% acknowledge Italy’s responsibility in war crimes.
➡️ But 80% say the Allies ‘liberated’ Italy, showing the enduring victim narrative.
💬 Nearly 30% think WWII & Holocaust discussions should stop, pointing to ongoing reluctance to face the past.