Research

I am interested in how politicians can make better decisions, in how citizens can make better choices, and how governments can address the disruption of technology and harness its opportunities. Since March 2020, I have made a substantial pivot in my work to understand the political and social contexts and consequences of COVID-19. Much of this work reflects my prior interests in politicians, citizens, and technology. My work is mostly survey based and experimental, though I take a broad view of what constitutes political science. I am highly collaborative and always happy to discuss new research ideas. A complete list of my publications is available on my CV, here.). You can view my Google Scholar page, here.

(See CV for complete list)

Journal articles

  1. Koenig, Richard, Manu Savani, Blake Lee-Whiting, John McAndrews, Sanchayan Banerjee, Andrew Hunter, Peter John, Peter John Loewen, and Brendan Nyhan. Forthcoming. “Public support for more stringent vaccine policies increases with vaccine effectiveness.” Scientific Reports.

  2. Magistro, Beatrice, Sophie Borwein, Bart Bonikowski, Peter John Loewen, Blake Lee-Whiting, Beatrice Magistro. Forthcoming. “Attitudes toward automation and the demand for policies addressing job loss: the effects of information about trade-offs.” Political Science Research and Methods.

  3. Borwein, Sophie, Bart Bonikowski, Peter John Loewen, Blake Lee-Whiting, Beatrice Magistro. Forthcoming. “Perceived automation threat, populism, and vote choice: evidence from 15 European democracies.” West European Politics.

  4. Borwein, Sophie, Bart Bonikowski, Peter John Loewen, Blake Lee-Whiting, Beatrice Magistro. Conditionally accepted. “Who Can Assert Ownership Over Automation?: Workplace Techno- logical Change, Populist and Ethno-nationalist Rhetoric, and Candidate Support.” Political Behavior.

  5. Lucas, Jack, Lior Sheffer, and Peter John Loewen. Forthcoming. “Are Politicians Democratic Realists?”. European Journal of Political Research.

  6. Jetha A, Bakhtari H, Rosella LC, Gignac MAM, Biswas A, Shahidi FV, Smith BT, Smith MJ, Mustard C, Khan N, Arrandale VH, Loewen PJ, Zuberi D, Dennerlein J, Bonaccio S, Wu N, Smith PM. Forthcoming. “Artificial intelligence and the work-health interface: A research agenda for a technologically transforming world of work.” American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

  7. Bundi, Pirmin, Frederic Varone, Peter John Loewen, and Christian Breunig. Forthcoming. “Conscientiousness of Representatives and Political Congruence.” Journal of Legislative Studies.

  8. Sevenans, Julie, Stefaan Walgrave, Arno Jansen, Karolin Soontjens, Stefanie Bailer, Nathalie Brack, Christian Breunig, Luzia Helfer, Peter John Loewen, Jean-Benoit Pilet, Lior Sheffer, Frederic Varone, and Rens Vliegenthart. Forthcoming. “Projection in Politicians’ Perceptions of Public Opinion.” Political Psychology.

  9. Lior Sheffer, Peter John Loewen, and Jack Lucas. Forthcoming. “Long-Term Policymaking and Politicians’ Beliefs about Voters: Evidence from a Three-Year Panel Study of Politicians.” Governance

  10. Sheffer, Lior, Peter John Loewen, Stefaan Walgrave, Stefanie Bailer, Christian Breunig, Luzia Helfer, Jean-Benoit Pilet, Frederic Varone, and Rens Vliegenthart. 2023. “How do Politicians Bargain? Evidence from Ultimatum Games with Legislators.” American Political Science Review.

  11. Lee, Amber Hye-Yon, Allison Harell, Laura Stephenson, Daniel Rubenson, and Peter John Loewen. 2023. “Motivated to Forgive? Partisan Scandals and Party Supporters.” Political Psychology.

  12. Walgrave, Stefaan, Stuart Soroka, Peter Loewen, Tamir Sheafer, Karolin Soontjens. 2022. “Revisiting Elite Perceptions as Mediator of Elite Responsiveness to Public Opinion.” Political Studies.

  13. Brankston, Gabrielle, Eric Merkley, Peter John Loewen, Brent P. Avery, Carolee A. Carson, Brendan P. Dougherty, David N. Fisman, Ashleigh R. Tuite, Zvonimir Poljak, Amy L. Greer. Forthcoming. “Pandemic Fatigue or Enduring Precautionary Behaviours? Canadians’ Longterm Response to COVID-19 Public Health Measures.” Preventive Medicine Reports.

  14. Walgrave, Stefaan, Arno Jansen, Julie Sevenans, Karolin Soontjens, Jean-Benoit Pilet, Nathalie Brack, Frederic Varone, Luzia Helfer, Rens Vliegenthart, Toni van der Meer, Christian Breunig, Stefanie Bailer, Lior Sheffer, Peter John Loewen. 2023. “Inaccurate Politicians. Elected Representatives’ Estimations of Public Opinion in Four Countries.” Journal of Politics. Volume 85, Number 1

  15. Carey, John, Tracy Keirns, Peter Loewen, Eric Merkley, Brendan Nyhan, Joseph B. Phillips, Judy R. Rees, and Jason Reifler. 2022. “Minimal effects from injunctive norm and contentiousness treatments on COVID-19 vaccine intentions: evidence from 3 countries.” PNAS Nexus. Volume 1, Issue 2, May 2022, pgac031.

  16. Merkley, Eric, and Peter John Loewen. 2022. “The correlates and intensity of COVID-19 vaccine brand preferences.” Vaccine.

  17. Carey, John M., Andrew M. Guess, Peter John Loewen, Eric Merkley, Brendan Nyhan, Joseph B. Phillips, and Jason Reifler. 2022. “The ephemeral effects of fact-checks on COVID-19 misperceptions: Evidence from the United States, Great Britain, and Canada.” Nature Human Behaviour.

  18. Merkley, Eric, Thomas Bergeron, Peter John Loewen, Angelo Elias, Miriam Lapp. 2021. “Communicating safety precautions can help maintain in-person voter turnout during a pandemic” Electoral Studies.

  19. Merkley, Eric, Eran Amsalem, and Peter John Loewen. 2021. “Does Talking to the Other Side Reduce Inter-Party Hostility? Evidence From Three Studies.” Political Communication.

  20. Brankston, Gabrielle, David N. Fisman, Ashleigh R. Tuite, Zvonimir Poljak, Eric Merkley, Peter John Loewen, and Amy Greer. 2021. “Quantifying Contact Patterns in Response to COVID-19 Public Health Measures in Canada.” BMC Public Health.

  21. Loewen, Peter John, and Daniel Rubenson. 2021. “Value-added and Transparent Experiments.” Political Studies Review.

  22. Bridgman, Aengus, Eric Merkley, Peter John Loewen, Taylor Owen, and Derek Ruths. 2021. “Evaluations of Deservingness of Government Aid during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Journal of Experimental Political Science.

  23. Blais, Andre, Damien Bol, Shaun Bowler, David M. Farrell, Annika Freden, Martial Foucault, Emmanuel Heisbourg, Romain Lachat, Ignacio Lago, Peter John Loewen, Miroslav Nemok, Jean-Benoit Pilet, and Carolina Plescia. 2021. “What Kind of Electoral Outcome do People Think is Good for Democracy?” Political Studies.

  24. Eggers, Andrew, Daniel Rubenson, and Peter John Loewen. 2021. “Who Votes More Strategically? Evidence From Canada.” Journal of Politics

  25. Duch, Raymond, Laurence SJ Roope, Mara Violato, Matias Fuentes Becerra, Thomas Samuel Robinson, Jean-Francois Bonnefon, Jorge Friedman, Peter John Loewen, Pavan Mamidi , Alessia Melegaro, Mariana Blanco, Juan F Vargas, Julia Seither, Paolo Candio, Ana Gibertoni Cruz, Xinyang Hua, Adrian G. Barnett, and Philip M Clarke. 2021. “Citizens from 13 countries share similar preferences for COVID-19 vaccine allocation priorities”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

  26. Merkley, Eric, and Peter John Loewen. 2021. “Assessment of Communcation Strategies for Mitigating COVID-19 Vaccine-Specific Hesitancy in Canada.” JAMA Network Open. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.26635. 4(9):e2126635

  27. Merkley, Eric, and Peter John Loewen. 2021. “Anti-intellectualism and the mass public’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.” Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10. 1038/s41562-021-01112-w.

  28. Stephenson, Laura, Allison Harrel, Daniel Rubenson, and Peter John Loewen. 2021. “Measuring Preferences and Behaviour in the 2019 Canadian Election Study”. Canadian Journal of Political Science. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423920001006

  29. Loewen, Peter John and Daniel Rubenson. 2021. “War deaths can increase support for incumbents.” Canadian Journal of Political Science. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423920001201

  30. Clarke, Philip, Laurence Rooper, Raymond Duch, Mara Violato, and Peter John Loewen. 2021. “Public opinion on global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.” Nature Medicine. https: //doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01322-9

  31. Bridgman, Aengus, Eric Merkelley, Oleg Zhilin, Peter John Loewen, Taylor Owen, and Derek Ruths. 2021. “Infodemic pathways: Evaluating the role that traditional and social media play in cross-national information transfer.” Frontiers in Political Science. 3:20. https://www. frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2021.648646/full?utm_source=miragenews&utm_ medium=miragenews&utm_campaign=news.

  32. Eady, Gregory and Peter John Loewen. 2021. “Where in the world is Donald Trump? Measuring uncertainty in candidate ideology.” Journal of Politics.

  33. Loewen, Peter John, Daniel Rubenson, John McAndrews. 2021. “When do politicians pursue more policy information?”. Journal of Experimental Political Science. https://doi.org/10. 1017/XPS.2020.42

  34. Brankston, Gabrielle, David N. Fisman, Ashleigh R. Tuite, Zvonimir Poljak, Eric Merkley, Peter John Loewen, and Amy Greer. 2021. “Sociodemographic Disparities in Knowledge, Practices, and Ability to Comply with COVID-19 Public Health Measures in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Public Health. https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-021-00501-y

  35. de Geus, Roosmarijn, John R. McAndrews, Peter John Loewen, and Aaron Martin. 2020. “Do Voters Judge the Performance of Female and Male Politicians Differently? Experimental Evidence from the United States and Australia.” Political Research Quarterly. https://doi. org/10.1177/1065912920906193

  36. McAndrews, John R., Jonah Goldberg, Peter John Loewen, Daniel Rubenson, and Benjamin Allen Stevens. 2020 “Nonelectoral Motivations to Represent Marginalized Groups in a Democracy: Evidence from an Unelected Legislature.” Legislative Studies Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1111/lsq.12310

  37. Bridgman, Aengus, Eric Merkley, Peter John Loewen, Taylor Owen, Derek Ruths, Lisa Teichmann, Oleg Zhilin. 2020. “The causes and consequences of covid-19 misperceptions: Understanding the role of news and social media.” Harvard Misinformation Review. Available at: https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/the-causes-and-consequences-of-covid19-misperceptions-understanding-the-role-of-news-and-social-media/

  38. Merkley, Eric, Aengus Bridgeman, Peter John Loewen, Taylor Owen, Derek Ruths, Oleg Zhilin. 2020. “A Rare Moment of Cross-Partisan Consensus: Elite and Public Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Science. https: //doi.org/10.1017/S0008423920000311

  39. Semra Sevi, Marco Mendoza Aviza, Gabrielle Peloquin Skulski, Emmanuel Heisbourg, Paola Vegas, Maxime Coulombe, Vincent Arel-Bundock, Peter John Loewen, Andr`e Blais. 2020. “Logarithmic vs. Linear Visualizations of COVID-19 Cases Do Not Affect Citizens Support for Social Confinement.” Canadian Journal of Political Science.

  40. Blais, Andr`e, Damien Bol, Marco Giani, Peter John Loewen. 2020. “The effect of COVID19 lockdowns on political support: Some good news for democracy?”. European Journal of Political Research.

  41. Loewen, Peter John and Ludovic Rheault. 2020. “Voters punish politicians with depression: evidence from experiments in two countries.” British Journal of Political Science.

  42. Joly, Jeroen, Peter John Loewen, and Stuart Soroka. 2019.“Nice Guys Finish Last: Personality and Political Success.” Acta Politica.

  43. Benjamin Allen Stevens, Md Mujahedul Islam, Roosmarijn de Geus, Jonah Goldberg, John McAndrews, Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki, Peter John Loewen, and Daniel Rubenson. 2019. “Local candidate effects in Canadian elections.” Canadian Journal of Political Science.

  44. Sheffer, Lior, Peter Loewen, Stuart Soroka, Tamir Sheafer, and Stefaan Walgrave. 2018. “Nonrepresentative representatives? An Experimental Study of the Decision Making of Elected Politicians.” American Political Science Review. Winner. CQ Press best paper award in legislative studies. American Political Science Association

  45. Loewen, Peter John and Michael MacKenzie. 2018. “Service Representation in a Federal System: A Field Experiment.” Journal of Experimental Political Science.

  46. Sheffer, Lior, and Peter John Loewen. 2018 “Accountability, Loss Aversion, and Elected Representatives’ Management of Risk: An Experimental Study with Local Politicians in the United States.” Political Research Quarterly.

  47. McGregor, Michael, Cameron Anderson, and Peter John Loewen. 2018. “Implementation Intentions, Information, and Voter Turnout: An Experimental Study”. Political Psychology.

  48. Joly, Jeroen, Joeri Hofmans, and Peter John Loewen. 2018. “Personality and Ideology among politicians: Data on political elites from Canada and Belgium.” Frontiers in Psychology (Pers Soc Psych).

  49. Ansalem, Eran, Alon Zoizner, Tamir Sheafer, Stefaan Walgrave, and Peter John Loewen. 2018. “The Effect of Politician’s Personality on Their Media Visibility.” Communications Research.

  50. Sheffer, Lior and Peter John Loewen. 2017. “Linking Electoral Confidence, Overconfidence, and Risky Behaviour: Evidence From a Study With Elected Politicians.” Political Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-017-9438-0

  51. Sevenans, Julie, Stefaan Walgrave, and Peter John Loewen. 2017. “What draws politicians’ attention? An experimental study of issue framing and its effect on individual political elites.” Political Behaviour. 9:5:1-23.

  52. Ansalem, Eran, Tamir Sheafer, Stuart Soroka, Peter John Loewen, and Stefaan Walgrave. 2017. “Media Motivation, Political Systems, and the Nature of Elite Rhetoric.” Political Communication.

  53. Settle, Jaime, Christopher T. Dawes, Peter John Loewen and Costas Panagopolous. 2016. “Negative Affectivity, Political Contention and Turnout: A Genopolitics Field Experiment.” Political Psychology.

  54. Soroka, Stuart, Peter John Loewen, Patrick Fournier and Daniel Rubenson. 2016. “News Photos and Support for Military Action”. Political Communication.

  55. Dawes, Christopher, Jaime Settle, Peter John Loewen and Matt McGue. 2015. “Genes, Psychological Traits, and Civic Engagement.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 370 (1683), 20150015.

  56. Peter John Loewen, Carolina de Miguel, Maxime Heroux-Legault. 2015. “Nationalism and Ethnic Heterogeneity: The Importance of Local Context for Nationalist Party Vote Choice.” Electoral Studies. 39:129-141.

  57. Loewen, Peter John, Lior Sheffer, and Kelly Hinton. 2015. “Beauty Contests and Strategic Inference: A Behavioural Foundation for Strategic Voting.” Electoral Studies. 38:38-45.

  58. Loewen, Peter John, Royce Koop, Jaime Settle and James H. Fowler. 2014. “A Natural Experiment in Proposal Power and Electoral Success.” American Journal of Political Science. 58: 189-196.

  59. Thomas, Paul, Peter John Loewen, and Michael MacKenzie. 2014. “Fair isn’t Always Equal: Constituency Population and the Quality of Representation in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Science. 46:273-293

  60. Loewen, Peter John, Christopher Dawes, Nina Mazar, Magnus Johannesson, Phillip Koellinger, Patrik Magnusson. 2013. “The Heritability of Moral Standards for Everyday Dishonesty.” Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization. 93: 363-366

  61. Dawes, Christopher, Peter John Loewen, Darren Schreiber, Alan N. Simmons, Taru Flagan, Richard McElreath, Scott E. Bokemper, James H. Fowler and Martin P. Paulus. 2012. “The Neural Basis of Egalitarian Behaviour.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 109(17):6479-83. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1118653109

  62. Loewen, Peter John, Daniel Rubenson, and Arthur Spirling. 2012. “Testing the Power of Arguments with a Bradley-Terry Model: An Application to Electoral Reform.” Electoral Studies. 31: 212-221.

  63. Loewen, Peter John and Chris Dawes. 2012. “The Heritability of Duty and Voter Turnout.” Political Psychology. 33:363-373. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9221.2012.00881.x

  64. Dawes, Chris, Peter John Loewen, and James H. Fowler. 2011. “Social Preferences and Political Participation.” Journal of Politics. 73:845-856.

  65. Loewen, Peter John and Daniel Rubenson. 2011. “For Want of a Nail: Negative Persuasion in a Party Leadership Campaign.” Party Politics. 17:45-65.

  66. Loewen, Peter John. 2010. “Antipathy, Affinity and Political Participation: How Our Concern for Others Makes Us Vote” Canadian Journal of Political Science. 43:661-687.

  67. Loewen, Peter John and Frédérick Bastien. 2010. “(In)Significant Elections? By-elections in Canada from 1963 to 2008.” Canadian Journal of Political Science. 43:87-105. Nominated for best article in the 2010 volume.

  68. Koop, Royce and Peter John Loewen. 2010. “When to go local, when to go national: Determinants of Private Members’ Legislation in the 38th and 39th Parliaments.” Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law. 4 (1): 95-106. (Law review article)

  69. Loewen, Peter John, Daniel Rubenson, and Leonard Wantchekon. 2010. “Help Me Help You: Conducting Field Experiments with Political Elites.” In the “Field Experiments in Comparative Politics and Policy” special issue of The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

  70. Blais, Andr´e and Peter John Loewen. 2009. “The French Electoral System and its Effects.” Special issue on the French Fifth Republic in West European Politics. 35:345-359.

  71. Loewen, Peter John, Henry Milner and Bruce Hicks. 2008. “Does Compulsory Voting Lead to More Informed and Engaged Citizens? An experimental test.” Canadian Journal of Political Science. 41:3:655-672.

  72. Loewen, Peter John and Andr´e Blais. 2006. “Did Bill C-24 Increase Turnout? Evidence from the 2000 and 2004 Canadian Elections.” Canadian Journal of Political Science. 39:4:935-943

Books

  1. de Geus, Roosmarijn, Erin Tolley, Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant, and Peter John Loewen. (Editors). Forthcoming. Women, Power, and Political Representation. University of Toronto Press.

  2. Tuohy, Carolyn, Sophie Borwein, Peter John Loewen, and Andrew Potter. (Eds). 2019. Policy Transformation in Canada: Is the Past Prologue? University of Toronto Press.

  3. Loewen, Peter and Daniel Rubenson. (Eds). 2019 Duty and Choice: Voter Turnout and Choice in the World’s Electoral System. University of Toronto Press.

  4. Potter, Andrew, Peter John Loewen, and Daniel Weinstock. (Eds). 2017. Should We Change How We Vote? McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Chapters

  1. de Geus, Roosmarijn, Erin Tolley, Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant, and Peter John Loewen. Forthcoming. “Introduction.” in Women, Power, and Political Representation. Eds. de Geus, Roosmarijn, Erin Tolley, Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant, and Peter John Loewen. University of Toronto Press.

  2. de Geus, Roosmarijn and Peter John Loewen. Forthcoming. Women’s representation in Canadian federal cabinets 1980-2019” in Women, Power, and Political Representation. Eds. de Geus, Roosmarijn, Erin Tolley, Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant, and Peter John Loewen. University of Toronto Press.

  3. Potter, Andrew, and Peter John Loewen. 2019. “Have we reached policy gridlock?”. in Policy Transformation in Canada: Is the Past Prologue. Eds. Carolyn Tuohy, Sophie Borwein, Peter John Loewen, and Andrew Potter. University of Toronto Press.

  4. Loewen, Peter, Daniel Rubenson, and Maxime Heroux-Legault. 2019. “Choice and Duty.” in Duty and Choice: Voter Turnout and Choice in the World’s Electoral System. Eds. Peter John Loewen and Daniel Rubenson. University of Toronto Press.

  5. Loewen, Peter, and Christopher Dawes. 2019. “Behavioural Anomalies Explain Variation in Voter Turnout.” in Duty and Choice: Voter Turnout and Choice in the World’s Electoral System. Eds. Peter John Loewen and Daniel Rubenson. University of Toronto Press.

  6. Loewen, Peter, Daniel Rubenson, and André Blais. 2019. “The Future of Election Studies.” in Duty and Choice: Voter Turnout and Choice in the World’s Electoral System. Eds. Peter John Loewen and Daniel Rubenson. University of Toronto Press.

  7. Blais, André, Peter John Loewen, Daniel Rubenson, Laura Stephenson and Elisabeth Gidengil. 2019. “Information on Party Strength and Strategic Voting: Evidence of Non-Effects From a Randomized Experiment,” in John Aldrich, Andr ́e Blais and Laura Stephenson (Eds) The Many Faces of Strategic Voting, University of Michigan Press.

  8. Potter, Andrew, Daniel Weinstock, and Peter John Loewen. 2017. “Introduction: The History and Politics of Electoral Reform,” Eds. Andrew Potter, Daniel Weinstock, and Peter John Loewen Should We Change How We Vote? McGill-Queen’s University Press.

  9. Loewen, Peter John. 2017. “Democratic Stability, Representation, and Accountability: A Case for Single-Member Plurality Elections in Canada,” Eds. Andrew Potter, Daniel Weinstock, and Peter John Loewen Should We Change How We Vote? McGill-Queen’s University Press.

  10. Fowler, James H., Peter John Loewen, Christopher T. Dawes, and Jamie Settle. 2011. “Games, Genes, and Political Participation.” Eds. Rose McDermott and Pete Hatemi. Man is by Nature and Nurture a Political Animal. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  11. Loewen, Peter John and Andr ́e Blais. 2011. “Quarterly Allowances and Turnout: old and new evidence.” Parties and Election Finance: Consequences for Democracy. Vancouver: UBC Press.

  12. Blais, André and Peter John Loewen. 2007. “Electoral Systems and Democratic Satisfaction.” Democratic Reform in New Brunswick. Ed. William Cross. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press.

  13. Blais, André, Peter John Loewen and Maxime Ricard. 2007. “The Government Life-Cycle.” Democratic Reform in New Brunswick. Ed. William Cross. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press.

  14. Blais, André, Peter John Loewen, and Marc-André Bodet. 2004. ”Strategic Voting.” Voters’ Veto: How New Zealand Voted in 2002. Ed. Jack Vowles. Auckland: Auckland University Press.