recent research

This week from Kevin Lewis' blog:

• Even though Malcolm Gladwell may beg to differ, the Arab Spring may not have happened without Facebook.
• Then again, a field experiment in Tanzania suggests the internet may demotivate citizens.
• And nothing affects political participation quite like the weather.
• Good cop, bad PAC: attack ads work best when they come from outside a politician's campaign. They also don't have to be very strong to be just as effective as positive ads.
• Voters do care about accountability - at least in the lab.
• Bad news for fiscal conservatives and republicans: more federal spending increases voter turnout and the popularity of incumbent presidents (especially liberal ones).
• Inferring how citizens will vote based on their notions of their economic prospects may be a circular project.
• One issue voters are unsurprisingly emotional about: where sex offenders live.
• One theory on why campaigns matter: they filter and impact how we interpret events.
• One consequence of deliberative democracy: more diverse policy stands? Maybe not, if you think voters aren't listening to politicians in the first place.
• Primary momentum: its importance is not a figment of campaigns' imaginations. It's almost as important as early media attention.
• Then again, it's not clear if long drawn out primaries are better or worse for all concerned.
• Voters might be open to new information and new views - that is if they would choose to notice them in the first place.
• Changing minds through "experience taking."