This study investigates how political disagreement within intimate social networks affects electoral participation.
Experimental Design in UK Households
We conducted a randomly assigned spillover experiment to understand causal effects of campaign contact on voters. Our research combined this experimental data with comprehensive party preference records and public turnout information collected before the intervention, allowing us to analyze mobilization within different partisan household types.
Mobilization Differences by Household Type
Our findings reveal distinct patterns:
- In households where members hold different partisan views (heterogeneous), campaign contact significantly increased voter turnout.
- In households with uniform partisan views (homogeneous), the same intervention had a smaller effect on mobilization.
Mechanism and Implications
These results suggest that discussion, not simple behavioral contagion, drives mobilization in response to political messages within families. This counters observational studies which often found negative correlations between household political diversity and electoral participation. Our experimental approach clarifies the mechanism behind these relationships.
