Downballot roll-off: Lopsided roll-off among major parties may be linked to downballot losses
Downballot roll-off is a phenomenon where people vote for top-of-ticket candidates but then do not vote for downballot offices like state legislature.
Volunteer Voter Contact, Even from Afar, Helps Democrats Win
On August 1st, the New York Times published an opinion piece suggesting that progressive grassroots organizations that popped up post-2016 aren’t materially different from digital fundraising efforts used by large scale, top-down national groups and campaigns. The piece then argues that when those organizations offer volunteering opportunities, they are generally not a good use of […]
Votes to majority: State Legislative Chambers Often Decided by Narrow Margins
This analysis looks at a number of battleground state legislative chambers to determine how many votes Democrats would have needed in 2020 to gain a legislative majority in the districts that decided the majority.
Values-matched messaging: Are postcards with values-matched messaging effective?
This study tested whether voter turnout increased after voters received a handwritten postcard featuring ‘values-matched messaging,’ such that they highlighted policy votes that their state legislative representatives made in opposition to the voters’ modeled policy positions.
Building Bridges: State Bridges email fundraising test
This pseudo-experiment looked at the effect of two different email fundraising messages using either policy or values framing on fundraising conversion rates and donation amounts.
An American Melting Pot? Describing the constituencies of state legislative Democrats and Republicans in the United States
This archival study sought to determine if certain constituent demographics in state legislative districts were associated with higher levels of Democratic state legislative representation (compared to Republican representation)
“Identity politics”: Activating identity to gain political power
In this blog we will discuss the social psychological underpinnings of identity, and how appeals to identity are used in a variety of political contexts.
Vote by Mail Ballot Chase: Do reminder text messages increase voter turnout?
This study explored whether chasing requested absentee ballots with a text message reminder to return them could increase voter turnout in Georgia.
Blue wave[s] substudy: Does receiving a third card help reactivate turnout effects ahead of the general election?
Abstract: In 2020, SDAN ran a Two Primaries Postcard Study, which was a randomized controlled trial that found that primary voter turnout among voters with low-mid turnout propensity for presidential primaries (turnout scores of 25-60) and high Democratic support scores (partisanship scores of 80+) could be improved by sending such voters a handwritten GOTV/voter education […]
Downstream analysis of primary postcard studies: Does getting GOTV postcards before the primary increase general election voter turnout?
This analysis explores the general election voting behavior of voters who SDAN sent GOTV postcards to ahead of the 2020 primaries, to determine if the increase in voter turnout we observed in those studies traveled downstream to increase turnout among those voters in the November 2020 general election.
