Effects on Youth Political Behavior to Peer-to-Peer Gun Issue Messaging

• In Event: Experimental Research on Voter Rationality, Engagement, and Turnout

Abstract

Does youth peer-to-peer advocacy and mobilizing messaging result in higher levels of political participation among young Americans than more generic messaging campaigns? Could youth advocacy around salient issues help mobilize higher levels of youth voter turnout and political engagement? This experiment explores the connections between youth advocacy and political engagement by testing social media exposure to youth vs. non-youth-driven advocacy networks on a salient issue with a call to action. The issue examined here is gun control/rights, arguably a salient one for both liberal and conservatives. By varying the type of group, we test the theory that youth-driven groups are more effective at increasing political engagement than more generic language. Using fictional Twitter posts and a 2x2 research design, we test the effect of youth ‘signaling’ on both sides of the gun control issue. Dependent variables ask about the likelihood of voting, political participation activities, partisanship, and feelings of political engagement. We find a significant effect of the youth condition on liberal youth on the pro-gun control side and increasing in strength to encompass the conservative youth when interacting with recent political activity: namely voting in the 2022 midterm election. Understanding the most efficacious mobilization avenues to reach youth may have positive long-term normative results for political engagement and outreach.

Authors

• Jill R Laufer, University of California, Davis

• Amber Ellen Boydstun, University of California, Davis