More Than Meets the Eye: Understanding Political Microtargeting Processing With Gaze-Cued Retrospective Think-Aloud Methodology

Abstract

Political microtargeting is a popular campaign tool in elections worldwide. However, it is associated with democratic risks. Foremost, scholars and policymakers are concerned that citizens cannot cope with political microtargeting and, thus, stand vulnerable to persuasion. To assess this risk, an in-depth understanding of how citizens make sense of and cope with political microtargeting is required. However, empirical studies are scarce, partially inconclusive, and provide global rather than nuanced insights. This study contributes to this research by employing an innovative, qualitative gaze-cued retrospective think-aloud design to distinguish coping patterns and, based on that, assess citizens’ vulnerability to persuasion via political microtargeting (<em>N </em>= 25). The results reveal similarities regarding conceptual persuasion knowledge activation (i.e., advertising and targeting awareness) but differences in attitudinal and behavioral coping, illustrated along five coping patterns (avoidance, coherence assessment, ad quality assessment, partisanship bias, and neutral observation). Only individuals who cope by neutrally observing the political message seem vulnerable to political microtargeting. For individuals who cope with political messages based on their partisanship, political microtargeting might strengthen existing ties but backlash when employed by a non-preferred party. This study informs educators and policymakers about citizens’ coping mechanisms with political microtargeting and their potential vulnerability, which may guide intervention and regulation decisions.