Articles tagged with Elections
A study found that believers in conspiracies are more likely to engage in politics, but also resort to violent means when believing the government is controlled by secret societies. The researchers suggest this could lead to an acceptance of extreme options.
A new analysis found that Russian trolls used fake persona types to discuss vaccination on Twitter during the 2016 US election cycle. The researchers identified nine types of troll personas and found that they targeted specific political groups with pro- and anti-vaccination messages.
A new system uses AI to root out political memes and disinformation on social media platforms, highlighting the threat of coordinated campaigns to incite violence and manipulate elections. The project aims to flag manipulated content in real-time to prevent harm.
New research from Rice University found that Barack Obama's 2008 presidential election improved the mental health of black men, with an average decrease in poor mental health days from four to three. However, this benefit did not extend to black women, who reported a slight increase in mental health problems following the election.
A University of Cincinnati study analyzed 1,351 candidate responses and found that women candidates tend to run more sophisticated campaigns with a focus on general themes. Despite this, women often face challenges in winning elections due to various factors such as voter demographics and campaign strategies.
Research found a short-term drop in the proportion of boys born in Ontario, Canada's most populated province, following the 2016 US presidential election. This effect was observed only in politically liberal areas, not in conservative ones, suggesting a potential impact of societal stressors on birth ratios.
A study published in Nature Human Behaviour found that exposure to 'fake news' during the 2016 US presidential election has been overstated. Untrustworthy websites accounted for less than half of all Americans' visits and only six percent of their news diets on average.
A new study from University of California, Riverside, found that Donald Trump's racially inflammatory speech emboldened particular members of the public to express their prejudices. Exposure to such rhetoric made individuals feel more comfortable expressing their prejudice, while silence from other elites gave the impression that a nor...
Oil and gas companies contributed over $84 million to US congressional candidates in 2018, largely influencing environmental policy votes. The study found a negative association between oil and gas company contributions and subsequent LCV scores, suggesting a reward system for legislators voting against pro-environmental policies.
A Univision News poll by Cornell University finds that Bernie Sanders leads among Latino voters in Nevada with 33% support, followed by Joe Biden at 22%. The survey also shows significant concerns over health care and racism among Latinos, with four out of five disapproving of President Trump.
A game theory model captures and assesses election interference by analyzing social media activity and polls, echoing the 2016 election. The model's results reflect real-world scenarios, including Russian Twitter fake accounts' influence.
A study by Toni Rodon and colleagues found that areas near former concentration camps in Germany receive more electoral support for far-right parties. The researchers suggest that the 'satiation hypothesis' may explain why this relationship ceases to be significant when the Alternative for Germany party is included in the analysis.
Research by Rice University economist Richard Boylan found that district elections increase noninfrastructure spending by 9.1% due to the 'common pool' problem, which can lead to excess city spending. This raises questions about the balance between equal representation and effective governance.
Researchers found that 94% of participants accepted manipulated responses as their own and rationalized moderate views. The study suggests that even polarized individuals can become open to opposing views for a short time.
A new study found a significant increase in political TV ads referencing guns, with gun regulation messages growing by 369% and pro-gun rights ads decreasing by 45%. Gun policy has emerged as a key issue in candidates' campaign platforms, with most ads supporting the Second Amendment.
The report, Digital Political Ethics: Aligning Principles with Practice, recommends best practices for digital campaigns to promote fair elections. It offers guidelines on issues like microtargeting, data transparency, and security of voter data.
Researchers found that people rarely used the pronoun 'she' when referring to the next U.S. president before the 2016 election, despite believing a woman would win. The study suggests an implicit bias against using 'she' in such contexts, which persisted even after Clinton's expected victory.
A recent study found that young doctors experienced significant mood changes in response to major political events, but not non-political events. The study suggests that the current generation of physicians are deeply engaged with politics and may be more likely to engage in public discussions about medical issues.
A study finds that major political events, especially those aligning with conservative ideologies, are associated with declines in mood among young US physicians. Women were particularly affected by the election results, suggesting a disproportionate impact of sexist discourse.
US President Donald Trump's Twitter use 'hyper-personalised, character assassinated and used unprofessional language' to gain support, the authors say. His tweets proved devastatingly effective in the 2016 election campaign.
Researchers found that people tend to move to counties with similar political preferences, creating a 'hollowing out' of the political center. This phenomenon suggests that politically extreme counties can act as magnets for migration, further widening the political divide.
Research reveals that communities experiencing demographic change moved towards pro-immigration Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, contradicting conventional wisdom. The study used a novel approach analyzing voting precincts instead of large geographic areas.
A new study by researchers at the University of Michigan and University of Pennsylvania indicates that individuals disproportionately find polls more credible when their preferred candidate is leading. The study suggests that emphasizing polls' methodological quality can lessen voters' biases, potentially benefiting democracy.
Researchers discovered that astroturfing campaigns rely on human coordination and behavior to evade detection. By analyzing Twitter accounts and patterns of activity, the team identified a small fraction of 'bots' involved in these campaigns.
A study by Ohio State University found that partisan media use is linked to stronger negative feelings and false beliefs about political opponents. Researchers surveyed Americans using various news outlets during the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections, discovering a correlation between increased hostility and belief in misperceptions.
A recent poll shows that almost 9 in 10 Canadians support a national pharmacare plan providing equal access to medications. Most federal parties are offering major policy proposals to introduce national pharmacare, but long-term thinking is crucial to its success.
Research finds that physically attractive candidates can gain up to 11 percentage points in US House of Representatives elections and 3.8 percentage points in German Bundestag elections due to their appearance. However, competent appearance and likeability have a lesser impact on voter decisions.
A study by University of Waterloo researchers found that Canadians who consider religion important tend to vote for conservative parties, with a strong link between religiosity and voting behavior. The study also notes a decline in the proportion of people considering religion important, reflecting broader societal shifts.
A study from Lancaster University and the University of Hagen found that parties with less stake in an issue tend to adopt extreme policy positions when creating election pledges. This is because they are more likely to pander to voters by offering attractive but potentially radical solutions. In contrast, parties with strong interests...
A new study from Ohio State University found that labeling false Facebook posts as satire, humor, parody, or hoax reduces users' belief in the falsehoods and their willingness to share them. In contrast, flagging inaccurate posts as disputed by fact-checkers or fellow users did not have a significant impact.
BotSlayer uses an anomaly detection algorithm to quickly identify trending activity likely driven by bots. The tool can also generate a network map to illustrate how a topic is spreading over time, providing insights into influential accounts and disinformation attacks.
A new study found that children are interested in politics and can provide information about candidates, but have gaps in their knowledge. The researchers argue that children need more input and guidance from adults to learn about politics and government.
Researchers at USC found that bots in 2018 elections were more likely to employ a multi-bot approach and engage through polls and dialogue. This evolution makes it harder for detection algorithms to identify fake accounts.
Researchers found that 'information gerrymandering' can bias election outcomes, with one party winning up to 60% of the time in simulated elections. The study used experiments involving 2,520 participants and identified actual information networks that show similar patterns.
A new study by New York University researchers finds that the presence of refugees in local communities has no effect on residents' voting behavior or attitudes towards immigration. Despite widespread anti-immigrant sentiments after 2015, attitudes and voting patterns remain unchanged.
A large-scale analysis of partisan WhatsApp groups found that right-wing users shared substantially more multimedia content and YouTube videos than left-wing groups. This study suggests that media literacy has not kept up with rapid technological changes, making it challenging to evaluate information received.
A new study from UC Riverside suggests that concerns about race and immigration were the primary determinants of vote switching in the 2016 presidential election. The researchers found that both working-class and non-working-class whites who held punitive immigration or racially conservative views were more likely to switch to Donald T...
A study by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found a link between the 2016 US presidential election and an increase in preterm births among Latina mothers. The analysis revealed 2,337 excess preterm births, or 3.5%, more than expected following the election.
A national study found that the 2016 US presidential election was associated with an increase in preterm births among Latina women, with nearly 1,342 additional male and 995 female preterm births recorded after the election. The study suggests potential links to anti-immigration policies.
A new study by UC Berkeley researchers found that nearly half of US-born Latinx youth worry about the impact of US immigration policies on their families. Those with more concerns experience higher anxiety and poorer sleep quality, impacting their well-being and long-term health.
A Virginia Tech research team uncovered how Facebook and Google deadlocked the Federal Election Commission's efforts to regulate digital political advertising. The platforms sought exemption from disclaimers, citing profit motives and technological limitations. This led to a narrow advisory opinion with minimal guidance for compliance.
A comprehensive roadmap for regulating nonprofit political activity is proposed by University of Notre Dame Law School Professor Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer. The plan aims to channel political activity in ways that further both sound tax policy and democracy, while preventing loopholes and promoting transparency.
Researchers found many Democrats overstated mental stress after the 2016 election, particularly for party loyalty rather than Trump specifically. They discovered a 'reverse' cheerleading phenomenon where people reported negative sentiments to show support for fellow Democrats.
Research suggests foreign powers like Russia and China can't significantly impact election outcomes or policies through disinformation. A Canadian researcher found that deeply ingrained identities and attitudes among elites and citizens counteract such efforts.
A recent study from Michigan State University suggests that there are more layers to political trust than previously thought. The researchers tested a vulnerability-centered definition of trust and found that three key dimensions - ability, benevolence, and integrity - play a crucial role in shaping public trust in the government.
Disinformation campaigns targeting American citizens during the 2016 election and other countries' efforts to spread fake news highlight the need for a psychological approach. Researchers propose using online games, emotional dampening tools and addressing political conditions to combat disinformation.
A field experiment by University of Kent and Kings College London found that writing to party supporters about postal voting was not effective in persuading them to switch from polling stations. The study tested this common recruitment tactic, which has seen a significant increase in usage over the past few decades.
A new Iowa State University study found that rurality, education, and race significantly predicted the change from Democrat to Republican in Iowa. White, rural voters without a college education were more likely to switch to Republican. The research counters the narrative that economic anxiety was the reason for this shift.
A new study in Heliyon identifies distinct opinion patterns on positional issues among Canadian voters, suggesting a micro-targeting marketing strategy could be effective. The research found that many Canadians have strong opinions on divisive issues, comparable to conventional vote predictors like party identification.
A new study found that the current 'repeal and replace' debate is already affecting women's health by increasing interest in IUDs as a cost-efficient form of reversible birth control. The study used Google Trends data to track searches for IUDs, showing a significant increase following the 2016 presidential election.
A study by MU researcher Michael Kearney found that moderate users are avoiding politics on Twitter, potentially creating a void in the middle. This amplifies the existing trend of partisan users forming highly partisan networks.
A new study by economists at UC Berkeley found that soda sales dropped an average of 10-20% in the three months after the election, even before prices went up. The results suggest that education and social norms played a significant role in changing drinking habits.
A new national study found that social media had only a small influence on how much people believed falsehoods about candidates and issues in the last two presidential elections. Interestingly, Facebook users were actually more accurate in their beliefs than those who consumed only other social media.
Erik Herron, a WVU political scientist, has received a $1.1 million Minerva Research Initiative award to investigate how hostile powers like Russia interfere with their neighbors' basic services. He is studying Estonia, Georgia, and Ukraine to better understand potential warning signs of interference.
A study found that rates of intrauterine device and implant insertions increased by 21.6% in the 30 days after the 2016 election compared to the same time period in 2015. This increase is attributed to women's concerns about losing contraceptive coverage under the Trump administration.
A study of commercially insured women found an increase in long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) method insertions 30 days after the 2016 presidential election. The average adjusted daily LARC insertion rate rose from 13.4 per 100,000 women to 16.3 per 100,000 women during this period.
A study published in Political Communication found that digital ads increased voter participation in a Dallas municipal election by 2.6 percentage points. The ads targeted millennials with information and reminders, resulting in higher turnout rates in competitive districts.
A Baylor University study found that Facebook memes of Donald Trump in the 2016 election focused more on his hairstyle and facial expressions than on his policy, while those of Hillary Clinton centered on the email scandal and her relationships. The study also revealed that most pages featuring Trump had a higher following than those f...
A study by Nir Grinberg and colleagues found that only a small fraction of Twitter users accounted for the vast majority of fake news exposures and shares. Most people, including liberals, got their political news from factual media outlets.
A new analysis found competing visions for health reform among newly elected governors, with Democrats advancing proposals to expand public coverage. Seven Democratic nominees proposed single-payer health care plans, while six others proposed creating a new public insurance option.