Marc Jacob, Thomas Mustillo, and Tiffany Tang are tackling one of the most complex challenges in politics — how to curtail campaign tactics in a democracy that actually subvert democracy itself. The Campaigning for Democracy Research Cluster aims to establish a new research agenda focused on democratic campaigning in challenging electoral contexts.
The team is led by Jacob, an assistant professor of democracy and global affairs in the Keough School of Global Affairs, with co-PIs Mustillo, a professor in the Keough School, and Tang, the Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics.
Through panel data collection, the project will identify voter concerns, pivotal electoral segments, and effective messaging strategies, while piloting a training program for pro-democracy campaign strategists. The goal of this research is to build a solid theoretical and empirical data model to come up with a unified picture of the electorate to better assist the pro-democratic movements and campaigns in backsliding contexts.
Current plans aim to pilot the research in Poland and Turkey. Jacob and his colleagues have recognized that a main problem for campaigners is the lack of accessible data. They hope to create a simple online platform where campaigners can be informed about voter information, and researchers can learn and share what they have found in their research.
Finally, as part of this new cluster, Jacob will teach two classes in the spring, specifically focused on political campaigning — one at the undergraduate and one at the graduate level. He feels that these classes allow students to truly engage with the project and “bring the world to campus and have a conversation.”
For more on this and other Democracy Initiative projects, check out the Catalyst Grants page.