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Informing Voters, Reducing Affective Polarization? Using a Voting Advice Application and a Conversational Chatbot to Mitigate Political Hostility in Poland

Europe (Central and Eastern)
Democracy
Electoral Behaviour
Public Opinion
Survey Experiments
Survey Research
Andres Reiljan
European University Institute
Lorenzo Cicchi
European University Institute
Andres Reiljan
European University Institute
Katarzyna Walecka
Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw

Abstract

In the recent US affective polarization literature, the focus has clearly shifted on reducing partisan animosity. Several studies have confirmed that it is, indeed, possible to depolarize the electorate with various interventions (e.g. the megastudy by Voelkel et al. 2024). However, similar efforts remain almost non-existent in Europe and the rest of the world. This is a troubling gap in research, considering that affective polarization with its potentially dangerous ramifications for democracy and social cohesion is by no means confined to the United States. With this paper, we aim to address this gap by developing and testing two interventions to reduce affective polarization prior to the Polish presidential election which will take place in May 2025. Poland constitutes a suitable case for such endeavor, as it has simultaneously experienced increasing affective polarization, democratic backsliding and decreasing social solidarity (Reiljan 2020; McCoy & Somer 2019; Kinowska-Mazaraki 2021). We focus on informing voters via online civic education tools and, in particular, correcting their potential misperceptions about different candidates and their supporters. Correcting misperceptions about the political out-groups has proven to be one of the most promising interventions in the American literature: people tend to think that their political opponents are ideologically more extreme than they actually are, and if these misperceptions are corrected, animosity towards them drops significantly (Druckman et al. 2022; Voelkel et al. 2024). This problem is especially relevant in the current era of social media echo chambers and rampant spread of misinformation. Given the enduring two-party dominance and sharp ideological divisions, it is likely that Polish voters have also developed misperceptions about their political opponents. Our project features two interventions. First, a voting advice application (VAA), which is an online tool that allows users to learn about their match with candidates’ policy preferences. We will identify a number of relevant political issues, position the candidates on these issues and launch the VAA ca one month before the first round of the election. The second intervention, a conversational chatbot, is aimed at correcting misperceptions toward the supporters of different parties/candidates in the Polish presidential election. We will field a survey to identify the issues where people perceive their political opponents to be more extreme than they actually are. The chatbot is designed to ask users where they think the opponents stand on the most misperceived issues, and then showing them the actual data. Closer to the elections, we field an experimental survey with: a) a control group; b) a group who gets the VAA treatment; and c) a group that gets the conversational chatbot treatment. As outcome variables, we use the feeling thermometers toward different parties, candidates and their supporters, allowing us to assess the impact of our two interventions on vertical and horizontal types of affective polarization. Our findings will serve as a foundation for European research on affective depolarization, bridging the gap in empirical studies between the US and Europe. Moreover, both tools that we develop will remain freely available for use to anyone interested in Polish politics.