Voting in the echo chamber?: Patterns of political online activities and voting behavior in Switzerland
Understanding the political consequences of digitalization is among the key challenges for modern societies. A pressing issue is the question whether political online activities make individuals more close-minded and less willing to consider alternative arguments. We examine this question using a pe...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
28 January 2022
|
| In: |
Swiss political science review
Year: 2022, Pages: 1-24 |
| ISSN: | 1662-6370 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/spsr.12498 |
| Online Access: | Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1111/spsr.12498 Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/spsr.12498 
|
| Author Notes: | Kathrin Ackermann, Isabelle Stadelmann-Steffen |
| Summary: | Understanding the political consequences of digitalization is among the key challenges for modern societies. A pressing issue is the question whether political online activities make individuals more close-minded and less willing to consider alternative arguments. We examine this question using a peculiarity of the Swiss electoral system - the possibility to split votes - as a behavioral outcome measure. We argue that political online activities might either make individuals less likely to split votes (“echo chamber”-argument) or more likely to spread their votes across parties (“deliberation”-argument). Empirically, we use data from the Swiss Election Study Selects 2019 to test these arguments. The results of a hierarchical logistic regression analysis do not support any of the conflicting arguments. Yet, additional analyses suggest that political interest moderates the relationship between online activities and vote splitting: political interest makes online activists more likely to split votes. |
|---|---|
| Item Description: | Gesehen am 02.02.2022 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 1662-6370 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/spsr.12498 |