WIAS Visiting Researcher & Visiting Scholar Seminar: “Reducing Affective Polarization through Diversity Exposure: Evidence from a VAA Field Experiment in Japan” by Marta Gallina and Stefano Camatarri (7/9)
Abstract
This paper investigates whether Voting Advice Applications (VAAs), by exposing voters to a diverse set of politically relevant alternatives, can reduce affective polarization. While VAAs are primarily designed to inform electoral choices and increase political knowledge, we argue that their personalized presentation of ideologically diverse parties may also mitigate negative attitudes toward political outgroups. Drawing on a randomized field experiment conducted in 2024 in Japan, a context characterized by a long-term reign of a governing party and a dominant-party system, we find that exposure to a VAA significantly reduces affective polarization. Notably, the effect is strongest among voters who typically rely on valence-based evaluations rather than issue-based reasoning, i.e. supporters of the dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). These findings suggest that VAAs, beyond their intended informational and educational functions, can serve as effective tools for mitigating partisan hostility by broadening voters’ perceived political choice set. However, the effect appears to be short-lived, fading after the election period.
Speaker
GALLINA, Marta (Associate Professor, Catholic University of Lille)
CAMATARRI, Stefano (Research Fellow, Catholic University of Louvain & Catholic University of Lille)
Collaborators
Airo Hino (Waseda University), Marta Gallina (Catholic University of Lille), Stefano Camatarri (Catholic University of Louvain), Robert Andrew Fahey (Waseda University), Uwe Serdült (Ritsumeikan University and University of Zurich)
Date&Time
July 9, 2026 (Thu.) 13:10 – 14:50
Venue
Room #1106, Building #3, Waseda Campus, Waseda University
Prospected Audience
Students, Graduate students, Faculty members, Research members, General Participants
Language
English
Organizer
Waseda Institute for Advanced Study (WIAS)
Public Opinion and Media Data Research Group, WINPEC, Waseda University
Coordinator: HINO, Airo (Professor, Faculty of Political Science and Economics, School of Political Science and Economics)
Registration
Pre-registration not required.
