Televised Influence: Examining Opinion Formation through Live Completion of a Voting Advice Application by Presidential Candidates in 2023 Cyprus Elections

The influence of heuristic cues from political parties and candidates on voter behaviour is a subject of ongoing debate in political science. Amidst uncertainty and limited information, voters often rely on cues from their preferred parties or candidates, aligning their opinions with those of their leaders to mitigate cognitive dissonance. This study investigates this phenomenon in the context of the 2023 Cyprus Presidential Elections, a unique scenario where the three leading candidates participated in the country's most popular Voting Advice Application (VAA) on live television for the first time. This event provided an unprecedented opportunity to analyse voter behaviour in real-time. Our research utilised data from the VAA, encompassing responses to 22 policy preference questions, to assess whether voters' opinions shifted before and after their chosen candidates completed the VAA live. We employed a series of Regression Discontinuity Designs (RDDs) to analyse the responses. The results revealed that for specific questions, a noticeable change occurred in the voters' responses following their candidate's participation in the VAA. This change indicates a significant influence of candidates' positions on their supporters' views. These findings contribute to the broader discourse on voter behaviour and opinion formation, highlighting that while voters hold concrete opinions on various issues, they are susceptible to re-aligning their views based on cues from preferred candidates, especially in situations of uncertainty or ambiguity. The study underscores the pivotal role of prominent politicians in shaping public opinion and the dynamic nature of voter preferences in response to political events.