Research Team: Brandon Dolores, Kyra Mason, Eva Ixco, Ailene Patino, Joshua Cedeno
Critical Insights for Activists
The Misinformation Barrier: Inaccessible ballot language and political rumors often lead non-college-educated voters to vote against their own economic interests.
Conformity Pressures: Social conformity is a massive driver of political opinion; individuals often change their minds to match the perceived consensus of their immediate social group.
Rumor Persistence: Even when a political rumor is corrected, the "echo" of the rumor persists in a voter's mind, especially if they are emotionally invested in the candidate.
Affective Bias: Partisans use "affective polarization" to interpret neutral information in a way that favors their party, making "objective" facts difficult to communicate.
Urgent Research Gaps
Non-College Educated Seniors: We need more field-work based research in NYC on how older adults navigate "ballot initiatives" written in confusing legal jargon.
Longitudinal Voting Studies: We need to follow voters over several years to see if repeated exposure to "fact-checks" actually changes behavior or just increases frustration.
Academic References (APA)
Mallinson, D. J., & Hatemi, P. K. (2018). The effects of information and social conformity on opinion change. PloS One, 13(5).
Versteegen, P. L. (2024). We love, they hate: Emotions in affective polarization. Political Psychology, 45(6), 1031–1049.
Weeks, B. E., & Garrett, R. K. (2014). Electoral consequences of political rumors. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 26(4).