Research
Publications
The nature of party cues: A theoretical and empirical investigation
Electoral Studies, 103, 2026
With: M. Agerberg
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2026.103139 — open access
[Abstract]
The question of why people are influenced by party cues is still heavily debated. We argue that lack of progress is partly the result of a too narrow, individual-centered, perspective on cue taking, resulting in weak links between theory and empirics. The dominant theories in the field make more nuanced predictions that are rarely considered jointly in empirical studies. We design a two-wave panel experiment, fielded during the 2022 Swedish election campaign, that is uniquely situated to test a large number of hypotheses about party cues in a real-life context. The results show that cue effects vary with many different factors at the individual, issue-specific, and political environment level, demonstrating the relevance of a dynamic perspective of cue taking. At the same time, our results show that existing theories are relatively poor at accounting for the type of patterns we find, pointing to a clear need for theoretical development.
The Swedish historical municipal council database
Electoral Studies, 95, 2025
With: A. Bawati, M. F. Gruneau, and J. Rickne
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102921
[Abstract]
Local political assemblies often perform essential political and governing functions. We introduce the Swedish Municipal Council Database (SMCD), which contains information on municipal council size and the number of elected councilors by gender and party family over a period of 100 years (1919–2018). We describe how this new database enables novel analysis of the development of democracy.
The impact of presentation format on conjoint designs: A replication and an extension
Method, Data, Analysis, 2022
With: S. Cassel and S. Lundmark
https://doi.org/10.12758/mda.2022.03
[Abstract]
In recent years, conjoint experiments have been in vogue across the social sciences. A reason for the conjoint experiments’ popularity is that they allow researchers to estimate the causal effects of many components of stimuli simultaneously. However, for conjoint experiments to produce valid results, respondents need to be able to process and understand the wide range of dimensions presented to them in the experiment. If the information processing is too demanding or too complicated, respondents are likely to turn to satisficing strategies, leading to poorer data quality and subsequently decreasing the researcher’s ability to make accurate causal inferences. One factor that may lead to the adoption of satisficing strategies is the presentation format used for the conjoint experiment (i.e., presenting the information within a text paragraph or a table). In the present paper, a direct replication of the single conjoint presentation format experiment described in Shamon, Dülmer, and Giza’s (2019) paper in Sociological Methods & Research is presented, and extending their work to paired conjoint experiment. The results of the direct replication showed that respondents evaluated the questionnaire more favorably when reading the table format but were, on the other hand, less likely to participate in subsequent panel waves. Albeit the number of break-offs, refusals, and non-responses did not differ between the two formats, respondents who saw the table format evaluated the scenarios with more consistency and less dimension reduction, thus favoring the table presentation format. For paired conjoint experiments, the presentation format did not affect survey evaluations or panel participation but the table format heavily outperformed the text format on every data quality measure except for dimension reduction. Conceptually, albeit not directly replicating the findings in Shamon, Dülmer, and Giza (2019), the present manuscript concludes that the table format appears preferable over the text format for conjoint experimental designs.
Book Chapters and Reports
Magnusson, J. & Wärnlöf B., K. (2019). Kultur hit och kultur dit? I Carlander, A., Öhberg, P. & Mellander, E. (red) Ingen kommer undan kulturen. Göteborgs Universitet: SOM-institutet.
Eken, A., Magnusson, J., Hildesson, A., Molnar, S., & De Fine Licht, K. (2019). Rätt verktyg för jobbet? En översikt över verktyg för social hållbarhetsanalys i städer. Mistra Urban Futures Report 2019:1.
Working Papers
Conflict by Default: How Political Information Environments Shape Party Cue Effects
Under review
[Abstract]
Party cues are a well-established heuristic through which citizens navigate political life. Yet whether party cues signal conflict or consensus has received surprisingly little attention. This letter addresses this gap, leveraging a survey experiment manipulating conflict and consensus across four policy proposals among UK Labour and Conservative identifiers. In-party cues shift policy support under all conditions, but effects are consistently stronger under conflict. Notably, a single in-party cue produces effects comparable to explicit conflict, suggesting conflict may be the default citizens assume even when not explicitly stated. Analysis of open-ended responses reinforces this: conflict reasoning is pervasive across conditions, while consensus reasoning emerges almost exclusively when cross-party agreement is made explicit. Conflictual cues elicit more partisan reasoning while consensus cues shift attention toward policy substance. These findings have implications for how we design cue experiments and for the democratic role of parties as a source of political information.
When Rivals Become Partners: Elite influence and its constraints in unexpected coalition announcements
Soon to be submitted
[Abstract]
Unexpected and unorthodox coalition formations are increasingly common in multiparty democracies. Yet we know little about how party supporters react to these coalitions, or how much influence political elites have in shaping those reactions. This study treats coalition announcements as elite signals, akin to party cues, and examines the reach and limits of elite influence. Leveraging real-world cases of unexpected coalition formation in the UK and Austria, I use quasi-experimental methods to estimate the short-term effects of coalition signals. Coalition signals significantly reshape supporters’ evaluations of new partners, but within limits. Parties rarely produce fundamental attitude changes, effects are weaker among supporters who previously disliked the new coalition partner, and coalition signals may generate immediate affective costs for supporters’ own parties. These findings show that parties have meaningful leeway in redefining political alliances, but that this leeway is constrained by supporters’ prior attitudes and affective backlash.
Work in Progress
Beyond Backlash: How Out-party Cues Influence Citizens’ Attitudes in Multiparty Systems
In preparation
Gendered Cue-Taking: How Men and Women Respond Differently to Party Signals
In preparation
With: J. Schwenk
The moderating role of in-party affect on the partisan gap in factual beliefs
In preparation
With: L. Lungu
Factual belief polarization among the electorate during times of low and high political competition
In preparation
With: L. Lungu