🧵 Why do facts often change beliefs but not attitudes?
In a new WP with @yamilrvelez.bsky.social and @scottclifford.bsky.social, we caution against interpreting this as rigidity or motivated reasoning. Often, the beliefs *relevant* to people’s attitudes are not what researchers expect.
Congratulations to @yamilrvelez.bsky.social, @patrickpliu.bsky.social, and @scottclifford.bsky.social !
we think attitudes are some function of beliefs; our exps routinely move beliefs but not (even correlated) attitudes. This team found a way to guess which beliefs matter more (and they do!)
Call for Proposals: Data Collection for Replication+Novel Political Science Survey Experiments Alexander Coppock and Mary McGrath January 27, 2026 We invite proposals for a survey experiment replication+novel design competition. Se- lected replication+novel design survey experiments will be conducted on large samples of American respondents, quota sampled to match U.S. Census margins and filtered for quality and attention by the survey sample provider Rep Data (repdata.com). Each proposal consists of two parts: (1) a replication study of an existing, previously published survey experiment, and (2) a novel experimental design on a topic of the authors’ choosing. The replication studies and reanalyses of the existing studies will be combined into a meta-paper to be co-authored by all authors of accepted proposals along with the princi- pal investigators (Coppock and McGrath). As a condition for acceptance, authors commit to sharing the data and producing a write-up of the findings from their novel design for submission to a scholarly journal, and public posting of a working paper pre-publication.
🎺 Call for proposals 🎺
1️⃣ replicate an existing experiment
2️⃣ run a novel experiment
on repdata.com
3️⃣ coauthor with Mary McGrath and me to meta-analyze the replications and existing studies
4️⃣ publish your study
details: alexandercoppock.com/replication_...
applications open Feb 1
please repost!
EPSS Travel Grants for 2026 Belfast conference:
PhD students & junior scholars @ institutions in European countries that are often underrepresented, can apply for full fee waiver & £500 stipend
Apply: lnkd.in/ehXjhCgf
Deadline: March 8, 11:59pm GMT.
More details: lnkd.in/eZTP5sWR
MEDem attended the #ESFRIroadmap2026 hearings ✅
This crucial step was only possible thanks to our incredible community. Thank you for the continued trust and strong support! 🙌
But what does this milestone mean, and what comes next?
Read more on our #MEDemBlog 👉 www.medem.eu/a-shared-ste...
Too much time on social media? Check out the @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org Element in Politics & Communication!: "consuming news from newer media sources such as social media & messaging apps is typically associated across countries with less knowledge & more misperceptions about political matters"
New publication alert! 📘🚨
Our new book on news use, political knowledge, and misperceptions is out! (currently open access – link below🔓)
We examine across 18 countries (N = 26K) what we call the "twin challenge of increased media choice."
Our latest paper on party brands in Europe is outin @poppublicsphere.bsky.social! More to come as the brilliant @eborbath.bsky.social and I finalize a book manuscript that brings together insights on party names, action repertoires, organizational adaptations, and how voters respond to them.
Happy to be part of the national leading team supporting this important infrastructure!
Thank you @jenny-oser.bsky.social for you efforts :-)
⬇️Thrilled to join as an Inaugural Member of the Israel National Consortium MEDem @medem.bsky.social : Liron Lavi (BIU), @noamgidron.bsky.social (HUJI), Osnat Akirav (ISPSA), @yaelrkaplan.bsky.social (OU), @acavari.bsky.social & Asif Efrat (RU), @ayakter.bsky.social &
@liranharsgor.bsky.social ✨
Graphic announcing Israel joining the MEDem National Coordinators Network. The MEDem logo appears at the top left, with a map of Europe at the top right highlighting participating countries in blue. Below are three circular headshots labeled Jennifer Oser, Liran Harsgor, and Alon Yakter. Under each photo is their institutional affiliation: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, University of Haifa, and Tel Aviv University. At the bottom, the MEDem website (medem.eu) and contact email (info@medem.eu) are displayed.
🌐 Our colleagues @liranharsgor.bsky.social ky.social, @jenny-oser.bsky.social & @ayakter.bsky.social have formed a National Consortium in Israel 🇮🇱. An important step toward consolidating national efforts!
Thank you for your trust & investing in the infrastructural foundations our field depends on 🤝
It has been great to navigate this paper with amazing @gefjonoff.bsky.social . Started expecting angry right-wing men to feel threatened by feminism and found out more than one surprise 👇
Excited to see this out. The paper was a huge lift. If you’d be surprised that citizen empowerment *increases* the share that pay taxes in a place like Kinshasa, check out the details in Soeren’s thread.
NEW in CASBS's partnership w/ @laviedesidees.bsky.social & its English language site, Books & Ideas:
Q&A w/2024-25 CASBS fellow @noamgidron.bsky.social among the world's authorities on the dynamics of polarization & democratic backsliding in Israel in recent years
booksandideas.net/On-democrati...
New paper out in IJPOR! 🎉 We study how cues from political elites and close friends shape policy preferences using a survey experiment. Trump cues move opinions even after his first term ended, but friend cues can backfire. 📄 academic.oup.com/ijpor/article/38/1/edaf066/8472064
📢New co-authored article in @polbehavior.bsky.social about PARTICIPATION and REPRESENTATION!
✨We ask "Are the Politically Active Better Represented?" Our answer, using the most comprehensive data to date: A clear "YES" for nonelectoral participation like protest.
⬇️See Jesper's 🧵for more ✨
Upcoming 2026-05-13 | Input talk | Lion Behrens (Data Scientist & Independent Researcher) Modeling Causal Heterogeneity with Machine Learning more 2026-04-22 | Input talk | Leah von der Heyde (GESIS) AIn't Nothing But a Survey? Using Large Language Models for Coding Open-Ended Survey Responses more 2026-03-11 | Input talk | Andreas Küpfer (TU Darmstadt & University of Birmingham) Politics in Action: Studying Multimodal Data from Local Meetings to National Parliaments more 2026-02-25 | Input talk | Klara Müller (University of Mannheim) When Events Change Samples: Disentangling Causal Effects from Compositional Bias in Quasi-Experimental Designs more
▶️ Social Science Data Lab: Spring 2026 Events
Four input talks by great researchers (see below ⤵️)!
🗓️ Details & Zoom:
socialsciencedatalab.mzes.uni-mannheim.de/page/events/
👥 Organizers:
@rubac.bsky.social,
@denis-cohen.bsky.social and Alexander Wenz
‼️ New paper out in @polbehavior.bsky.social !
We ask whether the politically active (in terms of electoral or other forms of participation) are better represented? See Jesper's detailed 🧵 below for more info on the paper! 👇
We find that voters are slightly, but not substantially better represented than non-voters. In contrast, people active in multiple forms of nonelectoral participation (like demonstrations, petitions, contacting officials) are better represented.
🧵I am happy to announce a new article in Political Behavior @polbehavior.bsky.social, “Are the Politically Active Better Represented?”, co-authored with @jenny-oser.bsky.social, @rdassonneville.bsky.social, @professormpersson.bsky.social, and Anders Sundell.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The connection between public opinion & policy adoption across 40 countries is stronger for citizens active in multiple types of nonelectoral political activity, though voters are only slightly better represented than non-voters
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Voters are not substantially better represented than nonvoters. However, people active in different types of nonelectoral political behavior, such as demonstrating, are better represented than the non-active link.springer.com/article/10.1...
New and open access, in @psrm.bsky.social: What happens when we make politicians draw distributions? Nic Dias, @jacklucas.bsky.social and I explore whether the large errors politicians make about public opinion are artificially inflated by how researchers ask them to estimate it /1
cup.org/4kltoyE
Two new articles in Party Politics
With
@gessler.bsky.social
Measuring party positions and issue salience with mass media and manifesto data"
doi.org/10.1177/1354...
With Hanspeter Kriesi
"Restructuring party systems in Northwestern Europe"
doi.org/10.1177/1354...
Feedback very welcome!
People keep referring to what’s going on in the US right now as a “modern-day gestapo” and “un-American”. In my @annualreviews.bsky.social preprint w/ @abautistachavez.bsky.social (doi.org/10.1146/annu...), we show that the US has repressed and expelled marginalized communities throughout history.
BJPolS abstract on the impact of environmental protests on public support, using evidence from surveys and experiments in the Netherlands, discussing media coverage and its effects on public perceptions.
From November 2025 -
Public Support for Pro-environment and Environment-Critical Movements - cup.org/3XzCAEJ
- @dirckdekleer.bsky.social, @catherinedevries.bsky.social & @simonvanteutem.bsky.social
#OpenAccess
🔍 Can you help? Looking for everyday examples of misinformation
We’re working on an experimental project on media literacy and civic reasoning with @shoutoutuk.bsky.social and are looking for real-world examples of misinformation to use in a training intervention.
🚨New publication on cleavages in party competition in Central and Eastern Europe 🚨
CEE party systems are famously volatile, but does that mean that they are unstructured?
❓I ask whether competition has become programmatically organized around enduring cleavages
🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1354...
Thread 👇
I’m really looking forward to discussing our research in the upcoming PRD webinar, organised by the brilliant @jenny-oser.bsky.social.
Join us next Wed, 14 Jan, for a timely conversation on how democracy can be promoted online - and what research tells us about what actually works.
More details ⬇️
📢 Very honored to host ✨Anja Neundorf @anjaneundorf.bsky.social Jan 14 in our interactive webinar series! Topic: "Promoting Democracy Online", a new working paper: osf.io/preprints/os... Start: 9:30 ET, 14:30 London, 15:30 CET, 16:30 Israel. For zoom link & series info: www.prd-erc.eu/events
