Internet Search Engines May Be Influencing Elections

sciencehabit writes: Thomas Epstein, a research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research in Vista, California, has found that the higher a politician ranks on a page of Internet search results, the more likely you are to vote for them — 80% more likely in some cases. The story also suggests that the folks at Google may already be influencing elections. "Google's algorithm has been determining the outcome of close elections around the world," says Epstein. As predicted, subjects spent far more time reading Web pages near the top of the list (abstract). But what surprised researchers was the difference those rankings made: Biased search results increased the number of undecided voters choosing the favored candidate by 48% compared with a control group that saw an equal mix of both candidates throughout the list.

Comments

Re:No-information voters

[steelfood]

Maybe the more notable result of the study is that those who consider themselves moderate Republicans are easier to manipulate via selective informing. It explains the success of Fox News anyway.

Re:It is still better than the alternative

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

The greatest enemy for democracy is not totalitarianism or communism or any thisism or thatism. It is apathy. The moment someone takes the trouble to look something up before voting it is good. Once they start some of them would eventually start using more reliable information. In that respect it is a good beginning. It is not perfect. It is barely better than random voting or inertia voting or not voting. But it is a good start, that is all I am saying.