How voter mobilization from short text messages travels within households and families: Evidence from two nationwide field experiments

Yosef Bhatti; Jens Olav Dahlgaard; Jonas Hedegaard Hansen; Kasper M. Hansen

doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2017.09.003

How voter mobilization from short text messages travels within households and families: Evidence from two nationwide field experiments

Yosef Bhatti, Jens Olav Dahlgaard, Jonas Hedegaard Hansen, Kasper M. Hansen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Through two large GOTV field experiments in two different elections, we investigate the spillover effect to other household members and family members outside the household. We mobilized young voters with cell phone text messages, a campaign tactic unlikely to be observed by other persons than the treated. The direct effect varied but approximately 30 percent spilled over to other persons in the household, even parents. The effects are subtle and we cannot with certainty establish that a spillover effect exists. However, we demonstrate, using Bayesian updating, that even an initial skeptic becomes close to convinced that the effect spills over. Our study provides evidence by suggesting that young individuals’ decision to vote affect other household members, including their parents, to do the same. When young voters live without their parents, we find no evidence of spillovers to parents, suggesting that households are more important than families ties for turnout contagion.

Original language	English
Journal	Electoral Studies
Volume	50
Pages (from-to)	39-49
Number of pages	11
ISSN	0261-3794
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2017.09.003
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2017

Keywords

Election campaigns
Family
Field experiments
Get-out-the-vote
Household effects
Political socialization
Voter turnout

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10.1016/j.electstud.2017.09.003

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title = "How voter mobilization from short text messages travels within households and families: Evidence from two nationwide field experiments",

abstract = "Through two large GOTV field experiments in two different elections, we investigate the spillover effect to other household members and family members outside the household. We mobilized young voters with cell phone text messages, a campaign tactic unlikely to be observed by other persons than the treated. The direct effect varied but approximately 30 percent spilled over to other persons in the household, even parents. The effects are subtle and we cannot with certainty establish that a spillover effect exists. However, we demonstrate, using Bayesian updating, that even an initial skeptic becomes close to convinced that the effect spills over. Our study provides evidence by suggesting that young individuals{\textquoteright} decision to vote affect other household members, including their parents, to do the same. When young voters live without their parents, we find no evidence of spillovers to parents, suggesting that households are more important than families ties for turnout contagion.",

keywords = "Election campaigns, Family, Field experiments, Get-out-the-vote, Household effects, Political socialization, Voter turnout",

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T1 - How voter mobilization from short text messages travels within households and families

T2 - Evidence from two nationwide field experiments

AU - Bhatti, Yosef

AU - Dahlgaard, Jens Olav

AU - Hansen, Jonas Hedegaard

AU - Hansen, Kasper M.

PY - 2017/12/1

Y1 - 2017/12/1

N2 - Through two large GOTV field experiments in two different elections, we investigate the spillover effect to other household members and family members outside the household. We mobilized young voters with cell phone text messages, a campaign tactic unlikely to be observed by other persons than the treated. The direct effect varied but approximately 30 percent spilled over to other persons in the household, even parents. The effects are subtle and we cannot with certainty establish that a spillover effect exists. However, we demonstrate, using Bayesian updating, that even an initial skeptic becomes close to convinced that the effect spills over. Our study provides evidence by suggesting that young individuals’ decision to vote affect other household members, including their parents, to do the same. When young voters live without their parents, we find no evidence of spillovers to parents, suggesting that households are more important than families ties for turnout contagion.

AB - Through two large GOTV field experiments in two different elections, we investigate the spillover effect to other household members and family members outside the household. We mobilized young voters with cell phone text messages, a campaign tactic unlikely to be observed by other persons than the treated. The direct effect varied but approximately 30 percent spilled over to other persons in the household, even parents. The effects are subtle and we cannot with certainty establish that a spillover effect exists. However, we demonstrate, using Bayesian updating, that even an initial skeptic becomes close to convinced that the effect spills over. Our study provides evidence by suggesting that young individuals’ decision to vote affect other household members, including their parents, to do the same. When young voters live without their parents, we find no evidence of spillovers to parents, suggesting that households are more important than families ties for turnout contagion.

KW - Election campaigns

KW - Family

KW - Field experiments

KW - Get-out-the-vote

KW - Household effects

KW - Political socialization

KW - Voter turnout

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How voter mobilization from short text messages travels within households and families: Evidence from two nationwide field experiments

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Keywords

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