Florian FoosAssociate Professor in Political Behaviour · London School of Economics

Research

Media influence and political extremism

When do powerful media outlets change public opinion, and how should journalists cover extreme political actors? Using the 30-year boycott of The Sun in Merseyside after the Hillsborough disaster, Daniel Bischof and I show that the boycott made attitudes towards the EU more positive. With Diane Bolet, I show that uncritical interviews with extreme right activists increase agreement with extreme right views and the perception that these views are widely shared, and that critical interviewing mitigates, but does not reverse, these normalisation effects.

Election campaigns, voter mobilization and turnout inequality

Do campaigns mobilize voters, whom do they mobilize, and do they make the electorate more or less unequal? My field experiments with political parties show that partisan campaigns change the composition of the electorate, that partisan cues affect mobilization, and that appeals invoking negative political identities mobilize costly political action such as donations. With Peter John, Francisco Tomás-Valiente and Asli Ceren Cinar, I am completing a book that meta-analyses more than 370 voter mobilization experiments.

Social networks and political influence

How do campaign effects spread from the people who are contacted to their partners, families and neighbours? Exploiting experimental spillovers, I show that household members influence each other’s turnout, particularly in politically mixed households, and that neighbourhood partisan context conditions social mobilization.

Political persuasion and support for democracy

Can politicians persuade citizens, and can they bolster support for liberal democracy? Drawing on randomized field experiments with a Labour parliamentary candidate, I show that introduction letters and personal meetings with the candidate shifted voting intentions, with effects that persisted for up to six months but decayed over time. With Alexander Wuttke, I show that politicians who actively make the case for democracy in town-hall settings increase citizens’ support for democracy, while one-way speeches do not.

AI and democracy

How is artificial intelligence changing election campaigns and democratic politics? I study how election campaigns use AI and, with Bailey Flanigan, Archon Fung and Charles Stewart III, which democratic functions in campaigns, election administration, social movements and deliberation AI can substitute for, augment or leave unchanged. I am a member of the APSA Presidential Task Force on AI, Politics, and Political Science.

Gender and political recruitment

Can female role models increase young women’s political ambition? In a field experiment with female legislators, Fabrizio Gilardi and I find that meeting politicians raised young women’s political interest but not their ambition to run for office. A follow-up experiment with Julia Gillard shows that narratives of overcoming gendered barriers can increase young women’s political efficacy.

Representation, responsiveness and party competition

How do legislators respond to constituents, and how does multi-level party competition shape national elections? My work includes field experiments with British MPs and studies of the national effects of subnational representation.