The Democracy and Polarization Lab studies modern-day challenges to democratic governance, diagnosing problems and testing potential solutions. How can we reduce polarization, improve the information environment, maintain the integrity of the electoral process, and foster democratic accountability?

Tackling these questions requires examining the interplay of voters and political actors. To do so, we leverage a wide array of administrative, electoral, and social media data on voters and politicians, allowing us to study the causal factors that improve or hamper the democratic process.

A central goal of the lab is training graduate students and helping them to build research profiles to address the emerging threats to democratic governance in the future. We support graduate students’ research with regular mentoring at weekly lab meetings, resources for data acquisition, and close collaborations.