We are happy to announce that the PSR Best Paper Award for 2022 goes to Stephanie Stark and Dr Sofía Collignon for their PSR research article: Sexual Predators in Contest for Public Office: How the American Electorate Responds to News of Allegations of Candidates Committing Sexual Assault and Harassment.
The article analyses the effect that allegations of sexual assault or harassment have on the electoral success of American politicians. The authors write: “Using an original survey experiment, we find that, on average, American citizens are less likely to support a candidate accused of sexual assault or sexual harassment. However, not all voters do so to the same magnitude. We find that Democrats are significantly less likely to support a candidate that faces such allegations. Republicans do not strongly penalize candidates facing allegations of sexual assault or harassment, especially if the candidate is identified as a Republican.”
Let’s bring up some stats about the winning article:
- The article has reached a record-breaking number of downloads and reads: 63 204.
- Stephanie Stark discussed her research in the episode of the BBC Woman’s Hour series.
- Stephanie Stark published an article based on her and Dr Collignon’s research in The Atlantic: Why Democrats Don’t Tolerate Sexual Harassers in Office – The Atlantic.
- Stephanie Stark also published a research-based article in Teen Vogue: Why No Research Has Been Conducted About Candidates Who Commit Sexual Assault | Teen Vogue.
- Stephanie Stark’s and Sofía Collignon’s research was featured in the episode of BBC Americast podcast: Americast: O’Mericast on Apple Podcasts.
- The research was also featured in GB News:
- Stark’s and Collignon’s research was also mentioned in Washington Monthly: Eric Greitens Is an Accused Sexual Predator. Will That Matter to Missouri Republicans? | Washington Monthly
- The authors elaborated on the analysed issues in the PSR podcast and the PSR research-based interview.
Congratulations!