Research

Negativity Bias Revisited: Changes in the Effects of Campaign Appeals over Time

The dissertation examines how responses to positive, negative, and contrast campaign messages vary across contemporary information environments, including effects on candidate evaluations and open-ended reactions.

• George Quinn & Richard Lau. “Negativity Bias Revisited.”
• George Quinn & Jessica Grassetti. “Dynamic Voter Behavior in Polarized Times: Longitudinal Analysis of Electoral Choice in 2016 and 2020.”
• George Quinn & Jan Kubik. “Cultural Impacts on Measuring Authoritarianism in American Elections.”

• “Priming Negativity: Open-Ended Text Classification and Campaign Appeals.” APSA, 2026.
• “Negativity Bias Revisited: Assessing Candidate Evaluations and Campaign Environments.” MPSA, 2026.
• “Negativity Bias Revisited.” APSA, 2025; SPSA, 2025.

Steering AI for Classifying Open-Ended Text

With Richard Lau. An evaluation of human-guided AI classification for 2020 ANES candidate likes and dislikes. Under review at Public Opinion Quarterly.

• “Unlocking Open-Ended Data — ANES Like/Dislike Classification, 2012–2024,” with Richard Lau.
• “Schemas of Energy Supply and Demand: How Do New Jerseyans Link Data Centers to Energy Development?” with Frederic Traylor.
• “AI Politics Is Local: Turning Down the Temperature on Data Center Politics,” with Frederic Traylor.

• “AI Data Centers: Congressional Framings and Their Electability.” APSA, 2026.
• “Steering AI for Classifying Open-Ended Text.” AAPOR, 2025; MPSA, 2025; APSA, 2024.
• “Evaluating AI and Structured Topic Modeling for Open-Ended Responses within the 2020 ANES.” AAPOR, 2024 — Best Student Poster Award.

The Age Penalty: Evidence from Two Survey Experiments

Two experiments test how candidate age shapes impressions and vote willingness in simulated primary elections. Under review at the Journal of Experimental Political Science.

• “The Age Representation Gap in U.S. State Legislatures: A New Dataset of Legislator Age and State Population Demographics.”
• “Passing the Torch: How Gen-Z Is Seeking Office on Their Own Terms,” with Shauna Shames.

• Young Elected Leaders Project. Age in State Legislatures 2017–2024. Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University. Corresponding author: George Quinn.
• Young Elected Leaders Project. Age in the United States Congress 2002–2024. Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University. Corresponding author: George D. Quinn.

Challenging the Narrative: Latino Voting in Presidential Elections

With Maria Ovalle. Under review at Political Research Quarterly.

• “Racial Attitudes and Vote Choice,” with Zachary Winograd.
• “Puerto Rico: Is Independence for the Rich and Statehood for the Poor?” with Santos Rivera-Cardona.

• “Puerto Rico: Is Independence for the Rich and Statehood for the Poor?” PRIEC, 2026.
• “Racial Attitudes Effect on Vote Choice — Senate Elections in Georgia.” SPSA, 2026.
• “Challenging the Narrative: Latino Voting in Presidential Elections.” SPSA, 2026; AAPOR, 2025.