Political Science: Academic Discipline — Prolific Citations Library

Explore 13 peer-reviewed papers in Political Science (2023–2025). Academic research using Prolific for high-quality human data collection.

This page lists 13 peer-reviewed papers in the discipline of Political Science in the Prolific Citations Library, a curated collection of research powered by high-quality human data from Prolific.

Papers (13 of 13)

Comparing the persuasiveness of role-playing large language models and human experts on polarized US political issues

Authors: K Hackenburg, L Ibrahim, BM Tappin, M Tsakiris

Year: 2025

Published in: AI & SOCIETY, 2025 - Springer

Institution: Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford

Research Area: Political Communication and Persuasion, LLM

Discipline: Political Science, Artificial Intelligence

GPT-4's ability to generate persuasive messages rivaled human experts on polarized US political issues, suggesting AI tools may have significant implications for political campaigns and democracy.

Methods: Pre-registered experiment where GPT-4 generated partisan role-playing persuasive messages, which were compared to those from human persuasion experts.

Key Findings: Persuasive impact of GPT-4-generated messages versus human expert messages on U.S. political issues.

Citations: 35

Sample Size: 4955
Scaling language model size yields diminishing returns for single-message political persuasion

Authors: K Hackenburg, BM Tappin, P Röttger, SA Hale

Year: 2025

Published in: Proceedings of the ..., 2025 - pnas.org

Institution: University of California Berkeley, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Max Planck Institute

Research Area: Political Persuasion, LLM

Discipline: Computational Social Science, Political Science

Scaling language model sizes leads to diminishing returns in generating persuasive political messages, with larger models providing minimal gains compared to smaller ones after controlling for task completion metrics like coherence and relevance.

Methods: Generated 720 political messages using 24 LLMs of varying sizes and tested their persuasiveness through a large-scale randomized survey experiment.

Key Findings: Persuasive capability of language models across different sizes in generating political messages.

Citations: 31

Sample Size: 25982
The levers of political persuasion with conversational artificial intelligence

Authors: K Hackenburg, BM Tappin, L Hewitt, E Saunders

Year: 2025

Published in: Science, 2025 - science.org

Institution: London School of Economics and Political Science, Stony Brook University

Research Area: Political Persuasion with Conversational AI, LLM, Factual Accuracy in AI Systems.

Discipline: Political Science, Computational Social Science

This Science paper shows that conversational AI chatbots can systematically influence political opinions at scale, and that techniques like post-training and prompting make them far more persuasive—but that increased persuasion is tied to reduced factual accuracy in what the AI says.

Citations: 12
Persuading voters using human-artificial intelligence dialogues

Authors: H Lin, G Czarnek, B Lewis, JP White, AJ Berinsky

Year: 2025

Published in: Nature, 2025 - nature.com

Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Research Area: Political Persuasion, Human-AI Dialogue, Electoral Behavior

Discipline: Political Science, Artificial Intelligence

The study shows that AI-driven dialogues can significantly influence voter attitudes and candidate preferences, with persuasion effects surpassing traditional political advertisements, though inaccuracies were more prevalent in content generated by AI models supporting right-wing candidates.

Methods: Pre-registered experiments where participants interacted with AI advocating for one of two candidates or a ballot measure, examining persuasion strategies and effects across three elections.

Key Findings: Influence of AI-generated dialogues on voter attitudes and preferences, including analysis of persuasion strategies and accuracy of presented information.

Citations: 3
Generative AI and Disinformation| Synthetic Diversity: Examining the Effects of Ethnic Targeting Using AI-Generated Political Ads

Authors: M Wack, DA Parry

Year: 2025

Published in: International Journal of Communication, 2025 - ijoc.org

Institution: University of Zurich

Research Area: Generative AI, Disinformation, Political Communication, Ethnic Targeting

Discipline: Communication, Artificial Intelligence, Political Science

The study finds that AI-generated political ads with coethnic avatars are more effective at mobilizing voter support and reducing skepticism, even when labeled as synthetic, with AI literacy playing a key role in identifying such content.

Methods: Survey experiment targeting voter responses to AI-generated political ads with varied presenter ethnicities, including analysis of AI literacy versus digital literacy.

Key Findings: Effectiveness of coethnic versus out-group ethnic AI-generated avatars in mobilizing voter support and the role of AI literacy in detecting synthetic content.

Citations: 1
The persuasive effects of political microtargeting in the age of generative artificial intelligence

Authors: A Simchon, M Edwards, S Lewandowsky

Year: 2024

Published in: PNAS nexus, 2024 - academic.oup.com

Institution: University of Bristol

Research Area: Political Microtargeting, Generative AI, Political Science, Psychological and Cognitive Sciences

Discipline: Political Science, Psychology

The study highlights the effectiveness and scalability of using generative AI to microtarget personalized political advertisements based on personality traits, raising ethical and policy concerns.

Methods: Four studies were conducted, including experiments (studies 1a and 1b) on the effectiveness of personality-tailored ads and feasibility assessments (studies 2a and 2b) of automatic generation and validation of these ads using generative AI and personality inference.

Key Findings: Effectiveness of personality-based microtargeted political ads and the scalability of their generation using generative AI tools.

Citations: 172
How do citizens perceive the use of Artificial Intelligence in public sector decisions?

Authors: T Haesevoets, B Verschuere, R Van Severen

Year: 2024

Published in: Government Information ..., 2024 - Elsevier

Institution: Ghent University, KU Leuven

Research Area: Public Sector AI, Citizen Perception, AI Ethics, Transparency

Discipline: Political Science, Public Administration

Citizens in the UK prefer AI to play a supporting role in public sector decisions rather than making decisions autonomously, with greater acceptance for low ideologically-charged contexts.

Methods: Three studies surveying UK respondents on their perceptions of AI involvement in public sector decision-making.

Key Findings: Perception of AI's role in decision-making, its legitimacy compared to human decision-makers, and suitability for various types of decisions.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2023.101906

Citations: 54
Evidence of a log scaling law for political persuasion with large language models

Authors: K Hackenburg, BM Tappin, P Röttger, S Hale

Year: 2024

Published in: arXiv preprint arXiv ..., 2024 - arxiv.org

Institution: University of Oxford, The Alan Turing Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London, Bocconi University, Meedan

Research Area: LLM scaling laws, Political Persuasion, LLM, AI Social Science

Discipline: Political Science, Artificial Intelligence

Persuasiveness of messages generated by large language models follows a log scaling law with diminishing returns as model size increases, and task completion appears to primarily drive this capability.

Methods: Generated 720 persuasive messages on 10 U.S. political issues using 24 language models of varying sizes; evaluated persuasiveness through a large-scale randomized survey experiment.

Key Findings: Persuasiveness of large language model-generated political messages across different model sizes.

Citations: 17

Sample Size: 25982
Large Language Models can impersonate politicians and other public figures

Authors: S Herbold, A Trautsch, Z Kikteva, A Kaufman

Year: 2024

Published in: arXiv preprint arXiv ..., 2024 - arxiv.org

Institution: University of Passau

Research Area: Computation and Language, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning

Discipline: Artificial Intelligence, Political Science, Natural Language Processing

Citations: 7
Americans' Support for AI Development-Measured Daily with Open Data and Methods

Authors: JJ Jones

Year: 2024

Published in: arXiv preprint arXiv:2412.05163, 2024 - arxiv.org

Institution: Stony Brook University

Research Area: Public Opinion on AI Development, Political Behavior

Discipline: Political Science, Behavioral Science
Cue to Trust? Investigating the Impact of Political Advertising Transparency Disclaimers on Citizen Trust Evaluations

Authors: HC Gordon, T Stafford, K Dommett

Year: 2024

Published in: ... of the Annual Meeting of the ..., 2024 - escholarship.org

Institution: University of California, Irvine, University of New York, Buffalo, University of Bath

Research Area: Political Advertising, Trust, Political Communication, Transparency

Discipline: Political Science, Communication
Evaluating the persuasive influence of political microtargeting with large language models

Authors: K Hackenburg, H Margetts

Year: 2023

Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of ..., 2024 - pnas.org

Institution: Oxford University, Alan Turing Institute

Research Area: Political Persuasion, LLM, Political Science

Discipline: Political Science

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2403116121

Citations: 153
Artificial intelligence can persuade humans on political issues

Authors: H Bai, J Voelkel, J Eichstaedt, R Willer

Year: 2023

Published in: 2023 - researchsquare.com

Institution: Stanford University, London Business School, Dartmouth College, Stanford Graduate School of Business

Research Area: Political Persuasion, Social Influence of AI, Cognitive Science

Discipline: Political Science, Social Science

Citations: 100