Information in Referendum Campaigns: How Can It Be Improved?

ABSTRACT

High-quality information is widely regarded as essential for democratic referendum campaigns, but what this means and how it can be advanced has not been systematically studied. By reviewing existing literature and drawing on a survey of practice around the democratic world, this article addresses this gap by making three contributions. First, it identifies four key dimensions to high-quality information: accuracy; balance; accessibility; and relevance. Second, it identifies four strategies through which information quality may be advanced: controlling campaign finance; confronting misinformation; creating and disseminating quality information; and promoting quality discussion. Third, it examines existing knowledge on the most promising of these strategies, offering preliminary conclusions and pointers for further research. The article suggests that the optimal strategy has not yet been found, and that further research could help to develop it.

KEYWORDS:

• Deliberation
• democracy
• information
• referendum

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the McDougall Trust, to whom we are grateful. The authors also thank the editors of this special issue and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts. Responsibility for all errors and other weaknesses remains, of course, our own.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Alan Renwick is Associate Professor in British Politics and Deputy Director of the Constitution Unit at University College London. He has published widely on electoral reform, referendums, and deliberative democracy. He was Director of the Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit in 2017 and Research Director for the UK’s Independent Commission on Referendums in 2017–18. E-mail: [email protected]

Michela Palese was Research Assistant and McDougall Fellow at the Constitution Unit, University College London.

Jess Sargeant was Research Assistant at the Constitution Unit, University College London.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by McDougall Trust.