Do voters follow the recommendations of voter advice application websites? A study of the effects of Kieskompas.nl on its users’ vote choices in the 2010 Dutch legislative elections

In this article we investigate the electoral effects of a prominent Dutch Voter Advice Application site (www.kieskompas.nl). Our research design combines factual data on the recommendations received by users from the site's log files with users' responses to pre-advice and post-election survey items. We find that the effects of online recommendations on vote choice depend on the congruence of the recommended party with the users' pre-existing preferences. When the site recommended a party that was being seriously contemplated by the user, the user was demonstrably more likely to go on to vote... Mehr ...