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Wired Voters: The Effects of Internet Use on Voters’ Electoral Uncertainty

Maria Sudulich, Matthew Wall Orcid Logo, Leonardo Baccini

British Journal of Political Science, Volume: 45, Issue: 04, Pages: 853 - 881

Swansea University Author: Matthew Wall Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1017/S0007123413000513

Abstract

This article examines whether voters’ use of the internet as a source of political news affects the degree to which they are certain of their vote choice in national-level elections. It uses data covering the 2011 general election in Ireland, linking geographical data on broadband coverage with indi...

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Published in: British Journal of Political Science
Published: 2015
Online Access: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9915518&fileId=S0007123413000513
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa23529
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Abstract: This article examines whether voters’ use of the internet as a source of political news affects the degree to which they are certain of their vote choice in national-level elections. It uses data covering the 2011 general election in Ireland, linking geographical data on broadband coverage with individual-level public opinion data from the 2011 Irish National Election Study. The resultant dataset allows us to adopt a quasi-experimental approach in our examination of the effects of online political newsgathering on voters’ electoral uncertainty. Implementing an instrumental variables methodology, the study finds consistent evidence of a causal relationship between the use of the internet as a source of political information and increased levels of political uncertainty among voters, ceteris paribus. These findings are robust to a range of model specifications and alternative operationalizations of dependent and independent variables.
College: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Issue: 04
Start Page: 853
End Page: 881