Political Polarization and Individualized Online Information Environments: A Longitudinal Tracking Study (POLTRACK)

The POLTRACK research project investigates how the use of digital information services affects political opinion formation.

The POLTRACK research project (duration: 2022–2025) investigates how the use of digital information services affects political opinion formation. It is led by Prof. Dr. Cornelius Puschmann, Dr. Lisa Merten, Prof. Dr. Sebastian Stier, and Prof. Dr. Katrin Weller. The team is supported by project assistant Helena Rauxloh. The project is funded by the Leibniz Association.

Today, the internet is the most important source of news and political information. However, the variety of content is enormous – ranging from serious journalism to extremist opinions. There is repeated speculation that this wealth of information divides the public and contributes to greater political polarization. However, scientific evidence for this is scarce and contradictory.

This is precisely where POLTRACK comes in: through a combination of communication, political, and computational social science, it investigates how actual online usage affects political opinions. To this end, around 1,500 German citizens will be monitored for a year. In addition to surveys on demographics, political attitudes, and media use, participants also provide insight into their surfing behavior: with their consent, the websites they visit are automatically recorded.

Web crawling and text analysis of the content allow the diversity of topics, sources of information, and actors involved to be precisely determined. This data is then correlated with changes in the participants’ political attitudes over time.

The researchers hope that this will enable them to find well-founded answers to key questions: Do online echo chambers actually contribute to polarization? What role does the diversity of information sources play in social cohesion? And what are the consequences for the regulation of digital platforms?

Initial research results from POLTRACK are already available: the team found that people who believe in conspiracies and have a pro-Russian attitude are more likely to turn to alternative news sources. The analysis therefore helps to better understand alternative news. The results also show that both sympathy and antipathy toward popular politicians influence internet searches for them. The search queries differ. When searching for female politicians, their private lives and physical characteristics are more often in the foreground than with male politicians.

Results like these could therefore not only advance the scientific debate, but also provide important impetus for politics and society.

Here you can find literature on research into political polarization and media exposure.

The paper “Politicized and Paranoid? Assessing Attitudinal Predictors of Alternative News Consumption” examines why people consume alternative news.

• Puschmann, C., Stier, S., Zerrer, P., & Rauxloh, H. (2024). Politicized and Paranoid? Assessing Attitudinal Predictors of Alternative News Consumption. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 68(4), 489–518. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2024.2383411

The paper “How affect shapes online information seeking about political actors” examines which factors influence Internet searches for politicians and how search patterns differ according to the gender of the politician being searched for.

• Puschmann, C., Rauxloh, H., Merten, L., Stier, S., Weller, K., & Kulshrestha, J. (2025). How affect shapes online information seeking about political actors. New Media & Society, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251346199

More publications:

• Rauxloh, H., Merten, L., Schulze, H., Moeller, J., & Lerch, I. (18. Juli 2023). Je mehr Nachrichtenquellen, desto besser für die Demokratie? Vielfalt der Informationsexposition und Selbstwirksamkeitsgefühle. Vortrag auf der 9. Internationalen Konferenz für Computational Social Science, Kopenhagen, Dänemark.
• Puschmann, C., Rauxloh, H., Stier, S., Weller, K., & Kulshrestha, J. (20. Juli 2023). Aufdeckung von Mustern in der politischen Suche mit Umfrage- und Trackingdaten. Vortrag auf der 9. Internationalen Konferenz für Computational Social Science, Kopenhagen, Dänemark.
• Rauxloh, H., Merten, L., Möller, J., Schulze, H., & Lerch, I. (23. Juni 2024). Je mehr Nachrichtenquellen, desto besser für die Demokratie? Informationsvielfalt und Selbstwirksamkeitsgefühle. Jahreskonferenz der International Communication Association, Gold Coast, Australien.
• Zerrer, P., Merten, L., Stier, S., Puschmann, C., & Mangold, F. (2024, 24.-27. September). Enthüllung des mobilen Medienmosaiks: Analyse von Nachrichtenrepertoires durch Kombination individueller mobiler und Desktop-Tracking-Daten. Akzeptierter Vortrag auf der European Communication Conference der European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), Ljubljana, Slowenien.
• Merten, L., Rauxloh, H., Stier, S., Puschmann, C., Kulshrestha, J., & Weller, K. (2024, 24.-27. September). Politische Polarisierung und Diversität in der Online-Informationsexposition: Eine Längsschnittstudie. Akzeptierter Vortrag auf der European Communication Conference der European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), Ljubljana, Slowenien.
• Puschmann, C., Rauxloh, H., Merten, L., Stier, S., Kulshrestha, J., & Weller, K. (2024, 24.-27. September). Die Grünen im Blick? Prädiktoren und Kontingenzen parteipolitischer Informationssuche mit Online-Suchmaschinen. Akzeptierter Vortrag auf der European Communication Conference der European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), Ljubljana, Slowenien.

Click here to visit the POLTRACK project page.