Using generative AI for election-related research

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Megan McCarty-Corino (0:31)

The year AI heads to the ballot box. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech. I'm Megan McCarty-Corino.

You might say the 2026 midterms are the first big AI election. The technology has been a key issue, a significant source of fundraising, its powering campaign ads, and it's being looked to by voters as a tool for sorting through the deluge of information, especially in places like California, where there are 14 ballot propositions to research. Marketplace's senior correspondent for Future Effects, David Brancaccio, put three AI chatbots to the test and has more on how that went for him.

David Brancaccio (1:22)

So I tested ChatGPT, Claude and Google Gemini by asking about a money in elections proposition on the ballot here in California. Chat messed up right away by saying, I couldn't vote on this proposition for because it's an old measure from 2024

Wrong. There's a fresh Prop 4 this time around, different topic. I had to be sure to say Proposition 4 on the November 3rd, 2026 ballot. And then the chat bot results got relevant, I would say. And you do got to watch out. There's a documented case of a chat bot making up, you know, hallucinating a non-existent candidate in an election in Scotland. But using chat bots, I did get a trove of, I think, useful information to make my best choice on election day.

Megan McCarty-Corino (2:11)

All right. But given that well-known issue with potential hallucination, did you have to verify the information that it outputted?

David Brancaccio (2:20)

Yes, you must check links. Some chat bot sources were authoritative, I would say. Ballotpedia, California Secretary of State's office, in my case. Other sources linked to things that needed some more research and context. One of the links billed itself as an independent newspaper. But a deeper dive, I found that it had the word conservative in its branding. Good to know, right?

By the way, another pro tip, ask multiple chatbots the same thing and then compare and contrast.

Megan McCarty-Corino (2:53)

We'll be right back.

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Megan McCarty-Corino (3:57)

You're listening to Marketplace Tech. I'm Megan McCarty-Corino. We're back with Marketplace's Future Effects senior correspondent, David Brancaccio.

You spoke to a researcher about how voters actually digest AI-generated election information. What did you learn?

David Brancaccio (4:15)

I learned that it can work. I spoke to this researcher who had a memorable answer to this topic. David Rand is a professor of information science, marketing, and psychology at Cornell. In 2024, ahead of the last presidential election, a special chat bot built by his team was persuasive enough to turn some Kamala Harris people into Trump people and the other way around.

David Rand (4:39)

We found that a conversation of just maybe six minutes on average with a large language model changed people's minds meaningfully about who to vote for in the 2024 presidential election in the US. We found effects are maybe three to four times bigger than what you'd get from watching a standard political ad.

David Brancaccio (4:59)

Maybe that's a low bar, right? A standard political ad. But apparently, many people respond well to the pile of info about policies that AI can quickly churn out.