Colin Case, assistant professor of political science in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a CSSI researcher affiliate, co-leads CampaignView, a free, publicly available database and research tool that sheds light on how primary candidates seeking seats in the U.S. Congress communicate with voters through their campaign websites.
CampaignView includes more than 43,400 individual policy positions from more than 5,000 primary candidates, enabling researchers to compare candidates' positions on a wide range of issues like health care, immigration, and climate change. It features 87% of major-party primary contenders who ran for the U.S. House of Representatives between 2018 and 2022, along with their campaign platforms and biographical information. The 2024 dataset will be released soon, with the 2026 dataset scheduled for release in 2027.
“For researchers, having access to this data is valuable for political science, but it's also useful for mass communication and journalism, sociology and even economics,” Case said. “There's a really wide range of potential applications for this data.”
Although CampaignView was designed primarily for research, Case said, journalists and the public can also gain insights from it.
“I think it is a really good resource for voters because it's a historical record of what candidates have said they're going to do in Congress,” he said. “They go to Washington and represent us. Then, two years later, we can ask: Did this person follow through on what they said? Did they do a good job?”
Using CampaignView to advance research on partisanship and ideology
Case not only co-created CampaignView, but he also uses it in his own research. For example, he has examined where each party’s candidates stand on specific issues, how ideologically consistent they are across issues, and whether incumbents become more ideologically extreme when facing challengers with more extreme views.
He also developed a machine learning measurement, called Website Embedding (WEB) Strategic Positioning Scores, which analyzes candidates’ language in CampaignView to place them on a spectrum of strategic positioning, from very liberal to very conservative.
"There are candidates who run on more left-leaning policies who have WEB Scores well to the left of the median Democratic candidate,” Case said. “Meanwhile, some candidates who run on more right-leaning policies have WEB Scores well to the right of the median Republican candidate.”
In addition, Case looks at when candidates of different political parties work together.
“We also have a project looking at when candidates use bipartisan messaging, which issues they discuss in bipartisan terms, and subsequently, how that carries forward into what they actually do in Congress,” he said.
Exploring voter attitudes towards candidates and Congress
Case also focuses on understanding how the behaviors of congresspeople shape voter decision-making and election outcomes. Using a national survey launched through CSSI, he is examining how voters evaluate candidates in primary elections, the issues that matter most to them, and their perceptions of how Congress operates.
"It's a really interesting space, both with respect to what's happening in American politics right now—with polarization, changes in how elections are conducted, and broader electoral trends," Case said. "Because we have more data and more information about these candidates, we're able to use more sophisticated survey techniques."
CSSI currently maintains a subscription with Verasight, allowing UI faculty, staff, and student researchers to conduct high-impact survey research at a reduced cost.
“My peers from across the country, those who also recently started as assistant professors, are impressed by the level of support I'm receiving from CSSI and the availability of tools like Verasight,” he said.
“As a researcher, I think what we have here at Iowa is unmatched and pretty incredible."
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