Can Partisan News Change Voter’s Decision? An Experiment on 2016 Taiwan General Election

This paper examines whether political news affects voters’ political preference and decisions. Subjects were randomly assigned to read articles supporting different parties or candidates during the one and half month before the 2016 Taiwanese General election election, and they were surveyed about voting decisions and preference to candidates or parties. We found evidence that for the existing old parties, treatment articles directly increases the possibility of supporting and voting for the treated parties. The effect appears only on the group that receives the same treatment as their original preference, that is, the effect is confirmation but not persuasive. Finally, competition between new and traditional parties exists, and new party treatment indeed persuades subjects voters originally support the old parties to their camp.