Since 2013, teams of researchers have set out to answer this single question across multiple countries: How does providing information to voters affect political behavior and preferences? From India to Mexico to Uganda, the answer remained the same: It doesn’t. The combined data revealed no significant results from information provided in the weeks leading up to an election.
“We were surprised to learn that providing information to voters didn't have the effects that we anticipated, but given the consistency of the results across six studies, we feel much more confident that the aggregate results aren't due to chance or bad luck,” said Susan Hyde, executive director of Evidence in Governance and Politics, or EGAP, a network of researchers and practitioners dedicated to bringing evidence to policy. “Overall, the process has reinforced my belief that collaboration between international development practitioners and researchers is more critical than ever to better understand what works and why.”