Journal article 2133 views
Wired Voters: The Effects of Internet Use on Voters’ Electoral Uncertainty
,
Leonardo Baccini
British Journal of Political Science, Volume: 45, Issue: 04, Pages: 853 - 881
Swansea University Author:
Matthew Wall
Full text not available from this repository: check for access using links below.
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...
| 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 |
| 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 |