Can Social Pressure Messaging Increase Confidence in Elections?

• In Event: Increasing Confidence in Elections

Abstract

Following a sharp decline of voter confidence in elections after the 2020 presidential election, particularly among Republicans, scholars have placed a renewed focus on examining strategies that may boost Americans' confidence in the legitimacy of the electoral process. Social pressure messaging, a get-out-the-vote (GOTV) tactic that reminds voters their vote history is public record and subject to inspection, has repeatedly been shown to be effective at increasing turnout across different modes and contexts. I argue this information should also encourage confidence in elections by communicating to voters that 1) individual ballots are systematically documented and 2) this process is publicly transparent. I test whether this information increases confidence in elections through a survey experiment, and explore the extent to which partisan cues shape this effect. Given that this tactic has been a widely adopted tactic by many civic organizations in the U.S. due to its strong evidence base, it is important to understand the effect this messaging may also have on attitudes toward critical democratic institutions.

Author

• Emily Wager, Rice University