PoLIS Strategic Seed Fund (Evaluating the Causal Effects of Voting Advice Applications on Electoral Turnout and Party Preferences)

Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) are online platforms that help voters understand how closely their policy preferences align with the different political parties or candidates competing in elections. Prior research has found evidence suggesting that VAAs can increase their users’ political knowledge, lead to changes in political preferences, and can even increase electoral turnout. However, it remains unclear whether those effects are causal. This project proposes to conduct a randomized experiment designed to provide causal evidence on the short- and mid-term effects of VAAs on both party preferences and electoral turnout.