Analyzing the impact of data on political decision-making and attitudes

In the spring semester of 2025, the Department of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offered Course 17.831 (Data and Politics), taught by Associate Professor of Political Science Daniel Hidalgo. This course, redesigned by Hidalgo himself, aimed to equip students with the skills to navigate political spaces effectively, potentially increasing civic engagement and combating misinformation.

Second-year political science major Jackson Hamilton enrolled in the course to expand his ability to use coding for political science applications and understand how political models and predictions work. Hamilton discovered that political issues that receive a lot of media coverage are not always the same issues that divide lawmakers, at least locally.

The course centres around the human element in politics, exploring conflict, bias, their structures, and impacts while also working to improve information literacy and coherent storytelling. Students learn the basic principles of social science statistics and analyze data using modern statistical computing tools.

In the "always on" world of news and related content, the variety of communications channels available to voters has increased the complexity of the data collection process in polling and campaigns. The course addresses these challenges, teaching students how to collect, analyse, and interpret original survey data used in modern campaigns.

Second-year physics major Sean Wilson, who also took the course this spring, notes the value of data visualization and analysis both as a potential physicist and a voter. Wilson argues that data analysis is essential work in politics and physics, as voting tendencies, public opinion, and government leadership change so often in the United States.

The influence of artificial intelligence and large language models makes a course like Data and Politics even more important, according to Hidalgo. Analyzing and understanding who holds which ideas, and why, and using the information to tell a coherent story is valuable in politics and elsewhere, according to Hidalgo.

The course capstone is an original project that involves the collection, analysis, and interpretation of original survey data used in modern campaigns. Hamilton and his classmates tailored their own sets of questions and experimental designs for the course.

Hidalgo investigates the political economy of elections, campaigns, and representation in developing democracies, especially in Latin America, as well as quantitative methods in the social sciences. He also works in the Political Methodology Lab at MIT.

Hamilton learned about the behind-the-scenes machinery at work in electoral politics, including budget trade-off questions to get a sense of what people actually thought the government should spend money on when they had to make choices. He believes that computer science and data science aren't just useful for STEM applications; data science approaches can also be extremely useful in many social sciences.

The chairholder of the MIT course 17.831 for the spring 2025 semester is Professor John W. Fisher. Real-world datasets are used to explore topics like election polling and prediction, voter turnout, voter targeting, and shifts in public opinion over time.

Hidalgo believes that data can help defend ideas and that the ability to design, implement, and understand surveys has value inside and outside the classroom. He emphasizes the importance of equipping students to navigate political spaces effectively to potentially improve and increase civic engagement.

In conclusion, Course 17.831 (Data and Politics) at MIT provides students with the skills to understand and navigate the complex landscape of modern politics, with a focus on data analysis, survey design, and coherent storytelling. By equipping students with these essential tools, the course aims to foster a more informed and engaged citizenry.