Nils Steiner
@nilssteiner.bsky.social
Political Scientist at JGU Mainz, Germany. Research on public opinion, elections, parties, and democracy (more at: https://www.nilssteiner.com/). Spokesperson of the AK Wahlen (@dvpw.bsky.social). Associate editor at @pvs-journal.bsky.social.
Urban and rural #Europe are drifting into different political worlds, making national #elections feel less national. Pautonnie, @rdassonneville.bsky.social & Nadeau document in Party Politics how the urban–rural electoral divide is widening across the continent. doi.org/10.1177/1354...
Bank branch closures in Spain fostered economic pessimism and reduced trust in both the banking sector and national-level institutions, reinforcing perceptions of territorial neglect and institutional abandonment among affected communities journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
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Remember the collapse of Germany's "traffic light" coalition in November 2024? Ever wondered how this affects citizens' attitudes? Look no further: @cyrillotteni.bsky.social and I got you covered in our new article, out now in @electoralstudies.bsky.social 🧵 📄 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
New paper out 📄 How do citizens mentally map political divides — and where do they go wrong? Using German survey data on immigration, we split perceptual error into 3 biases (egocentrism, conservatism & false polarization) that mirror the very divides they distort. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Seeing Divides: Citizens’ Biased Perceptions of Political Cleavages - Political Behavior
Citizens’ perceptions of political divides shape democratic processes, yet we know little about how these divides are mentally represented. This article develops a conceptual framework that integrates...
link.springer.com
#Wahlen 2026: Geballte #PoWi -Expertise zu den #LTW in #SA und #MV gibt es am 9.7. um 12h online mit @jocmuel.bsky.social, @wolfgang-muno.bsky.social, @pluggedchris.bsky.social und Kerstin Völkl Alle Infos 👉 www.dvpw.de/informatione... #DVPWiG @trimcev.bsky.social @benjaminhoehne.bsky.social
Heute bin ich in @jmwiarda.bsky.social's Blog zu Gast, mit einem Beitrag zur Hitze im Hörsaal und wie sie sich ganz einfach vermeiden liesse: www.jmwiarda.de/blog/2026/06...
Hitzekollaps im Hörsaal
jmwiarda.de
Why did class voting in Britain rise, then decline? @olliheath.bsky.social, Humphrey Southall, Paula Aucott & @caprosser.com examine elections from 1885-2024, arguing political agency explains class dealignment better than social change. OPEN ACCESS: buff.ly/klGDUJz @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social
Today we launch the new version of The PopuList! The PopuList provides an overview of far-left, far-right and populist parties in 31 European countries from 1989 until 1 May 2026. Explore the new website here: popu-list.org
Home - The PopuList
The PopuList Interactive Version 4.0 Static Version 4.0 CSV Version 4.0 What is the PopuList? The PopuList offers researchers, journalists, […]
popu-list.org
"Left behind" and an undemocratic mind? Happy to see that my article on the link between perceived marginalization and democratic orientations is now out in @ejprjournal.bsky.social 🧵👇 Read the article here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
This Wednesday, @lenamariahuber.bsky.social will join us in the Forschungswerkstatt @powimz.bsky.social to present her work on “Claim and Response: How Group Appeals Shape Voters’ Perceptions of Representation.” We're very much looking forward to her talk! See: politik.uni-mainz.de/startseite-i...
Forschung – Institut für Politikwissenschaft
politik.uni-mainz.de
New paper with @martingross.bsky.social in Political Studies 🗣️ "Feeling overlooked and underrepresented? Citizens’ preferences for dialect-speaking representatives" Do dialects matter for political representation? Short answer: yes.
Heute beginnt #FIFAWorldCup #WM2026. Die Diskussionen um einen #Boykott des Turniers wurden in der 🇩🇪 Öffentlichkeit weniger intensiv geführt als 2022, aber wie sehen das eigentlich die Bürgerinnen und Bürger? 👉Fußfallfans stimmen verschiedenen Boykottszenarien weniger zu als andere Befragte 1/6
🚨 🚨 🚨 new publication (with @antonialang.bsky.social) klaxon!!! Over the past decade, scholars have increasingly turned to “place” as a key factor in political behaviour — particularly on the far right, in Europe & the US. Urban-rural divides are especially intriguing. But are they true cleavages? 🤔
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New paper out in the @thejop.bsky.social (w/ @christinagahn.bsky.social) Do opinion polls shape election results? Using both cross-national data and a survey experiment, the answer we find is yes - though it depends on how we communicate polling results. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
PVS/GPSQ has reached a CiteScore of 4.6 in the newest Scopus ranking. This places us in Q1 at rank 257/1530 in the more comprehensive Sociology and Political Science category. Thank you to all our authors! www.scopus.com/sourceid/23482
Auch wenn es immer wieder suggeriert wird: Arm zu sein, ein geringes Einkommen zu haben, hängt nur schwach mit einer höheren Wahrscheinlichkeit zusammen, die AfD zu wählen. Die Unterschiede nach formalen Bildungsabschlüssen sind im Vergleich zu den Einkommensunterschieden deutlich größer. 1/3
What predicts citizens' stances towards deliberative core principles in political talks and do true deliberative citizens exist? Find out in a new open access paper by Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck and @cschnaudt.bsky.social doi.org/10.1007/s11615-026-00666-6
New pub with Camilla Bjarnøe, Kristina Jessen Hansen & Mads Thau What makes political group appeals work? Politicians routinely flatter voter groups but we know little whether it works. We tested class-based flattery appeals using survey experiments in 🇩🇰 Denmark and 🇺🇸 the US.
Roughly two more weeks to apply!
Roland Imhoff@rolandimhoff.bsky.social · 3mo ago🚨Postdoc Position (Research Fellow; 100%; for 3 years)🚨 Join our labgroup "Social and Legal Psychology" at @unimainz.bsky.social, and become part of the next friendly team picture (see below). Deadline is June 15th, 2026. More information: www.psychjob.eu/de/job/resea... Feel free to share!
🚨🚨 Job: Please share 🙌 - what? PhD position in my DFG-funded project on how citizens understand their role in democracy. - when? Application deadline Jul 1, job start Sept 1 or soon thereafter - how? www.uni-hamburg.de/en/stellenan...
Job advertisement
uni-hamburg.de
Excited to present a new working paper by @victoriahaerter.bsky.social, @dweisstanner.bsky.social, @saengler.bsky.social &myself @unimainz.bsky.social! Public service deprivation influences vote choice,but what about policy choices? Swiss direct democracy provides a unique opportunity to study that
PoWiMZ@powimz.bsky.social · 2mo agoAm Mittwoch, 3. Juni, begrüßen wir Rahel Freiburghaus (Lausanne) in unserer #Forschungswerkstatt. Uns erwartet ein spannender Vortrag zum Thema: "Post Democracy: The Long-Run Consequences of Public Service Deprivation." Alle sind herzlich eingeladen!
Travelling back from picturesque Lund, where I gave a talk on the widening education gap in satisfaction with democracy — and had a great time. Thank you for the invitation, @jesperlindqvist.bsky.social and @jonathanpolk.bsky.social!
‼️ New paper with Ian McAllister (ANU) out at @respol.bsky.social. We use @ess-survey.bsky.social data to study over-time changes in the association between education and left-right self-placements.
Research & Politics@respol.bsky.social · 2mo ago@rdassonneville.bsky.social & McAllister show that education divides voters less by changing opinions than by changing political labels, as immigration increasingly shapes how Europeans understand left and right. Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
(How) do German local politicians in district councils demarcate themselves from the far-right AfD? Read it now in a new open access paper by Paul Reimers and @larsrumpf.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...
📊 Does it matter how well "people like you" are represented? Lucca Hoffeller & @nilssteiner.bsky.social Steiner find that the further a government's positions sit from someone's occupational class preferences, the lower that person's satisfaction with democracy. 🔗 doi.org/10.1080/0140...
New article out in @wepsocial.bsky.social, with Lucca Hoffeller: doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2026.2662884 We add a new perspective to research on congruence and political support: Group-based congruence, where citizens’ support depends on how well their social group’s preferences are represented. 🧵
I’m hiring 2 doctoral researchers in Politics of Climate Change at Heidelberg University 🌍 📊 Survey Research & Political Participation 🗣️ Qualitative Research & Group Formation Part of “The New Climate Divide” Deadline: 21 June 2026 Calls: www.ipw.uni-heidelberg.de/en/about-us/... Please share!
Job Vacancies - Institute for Political Science
ipw.uni-heidelberg.de
🚨 I'm recruiting a PhD student for a new project on Parties' social group ownership, based in the @vd-researchgroup.bsky.social research group at KU Leuven! Deadline for applying is 26 June, estimated starting date is 1 Oct 2026. All info is here 👉 www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo... Share widely!
1 doctoraatspositie in kiesgedrag
1 PhD position to research how parties build connections with social groups
kuleuven.be
Wanna talk about the cordon sanitaire (the "Brandmauer"?) 🚨We (@christinajuen.bsky.social, @pluggedchris.bsky.social and I) have a new paper out in @cpsjournal.bsky.social 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/0010... What do we do in the paper? A 🧵: 1/7
Es lohnt sich wirklich sich dieses Gespräch zu Fragen von Steuerpolitik und Steuergerechtigkeit anzuhören. Ein wie ich finde zentraler Punkt: Steuern sind nicht nur ein Mittel um Geld in die Staatskasse zu bekommen sondern ein Mittel der "Steuerung" für Umverteilung und gegen Akkumulation von Macht
Kevin Kühnert@kuehnik.bsky.social · 3mo agoWarum nicht „alle“ den Gürtel enger schnallen müssen, die Erbschaftsteuer keine exklusiv linke Idee ist und bei Debatten über Ungleichheit zu viel über Einkommen und zu wenig über Vermögen gesprochen wird.