Do Voting Advice Applications Narrow the Digital Divide? A Quasiexperiment

• In Event: News Approaches to Election Campaigns and Voting Behavior

Abstract

By offering relevant political information in an attractive and easy-to-digest way, and reaching millions of voters, Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) are expected to contribute to political knowledge and internal political efficacy. While previous studies provide correlational evidence at best, the current study puts this alleged contribution to a critical test. We rely on a quasi-experiment during Dutch municipality elections and use matching techniques to exclude selection bias, and study the causal effect of using VAAs. We find evidence for an increase in internal efficacy after using VAAs, especially among lower educated voters. We could not find any support for the expected gain in political knowledge. Our findings confirm the important role of VAAs in the political media landscape of modern elections, but suggest they could do more to narrow the digital divide.

Authors

• Jasper van de Pol, University of Amsterdam / ASCoR

• Naomi Kamoen, Utrecht U/Tilburg U

• Andre Krouwel, VU U Amsterdam

• Bregje Holleman, Utrecht U