{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,16]],"date-time":"2025-12-16T18:45:50Z","timestamp":1765910750880,"version":"3.48.0"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,16]],"date-time":"2025-12-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1765843200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>As partisanship strengthens in the United States, unaffiliated voter registration is also increasing. We conducted an original survey experiment to understand voter registration choices among registered voters in Florida and North Carolina, two states with substantial shares of unaffiliated registrants and persistent partisan polarization, but with differing primary participation rules. Institutionally, Florida holds closed primaries where only those registered with a political party may participate in the respective primary for that party. North Carolina holds semi-closed primaries that allow those not registered with a political party (i.e., unaffiliated registrants) to vote in party primary elections. The results of our experiment demonstrate that institutional context matters. Specifically, informing respondents of primary participation rules shapes voter registration recommendations. Among registrants who identify as independents, exposure to Florida\u2019s closed primary rule causes them to be more likely to recommend party registration, whereas awareness of the semi-closed North Carolina primary rule makes independents and partisans more likely to advise unaffiliated registration. However, in the absence of information explaining rules for primary participation, respondents are more likely to suggest that their friend register in alignment with their own political identity. In summary, our study provides valuable insights into how registration choices are conditioned by political identities and exposure to treatments that emphasize political conditions and primary participation rules.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0337176","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,16]],"date-time":"2025-12-16T18:33:09Z","timestamp":1765909989000},"page":"e0337176","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Treating a friend to voter registration in a Divided America"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"M. V. (Trey)","family":"Hood III","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9889-6532","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Seth C.","family":"McKee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1941-8012","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Enrijeta","family":"Shino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Daniel A.","family":"Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0337176.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Levendusky M. The partisan sort. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 2009.","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226473673.001.0001"},{"key":"pone.0337176.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Campbell JE. Polarized: making sense of a Divided America. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 2016.","DOI":"10.1515\/9781400883448"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0337176.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"35","DOI":"10.2307\/2669291","article-title":"Partisanship and voting behavior 1952 -1996","volume":"44","author":"LM Bartels","year":"2000","journal-title":"American Journal of Political Science."},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0337176.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"345","DOI":"10.1057\/pol.2009.6","article-title":"Party registration and the geography of party polarization","volume":"41","author":"E McGhee","year":"2009","journal-title":"Polity."},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0337176.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"645","DOI":"10.1002\/polq.13388","article-title":"The polarized American electorate: the rise of partisan-ideological consistency and its consequences","volume":"137","author":"AI Abramowitz","year":"2022","journal-title":"Political Science Quarterly."},{"key":"pone.0337176.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Theriault SM. Party polarization in congress. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2008.","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511790652"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0337176.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"324","DOI":"10.1017\/S000305541000016X","article-title":"Activists and conflict extension in American Party Politics","volume":"104","author":"GC Layman","year":"2010","journal-title":"Am Polit Sci Rev."},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0337176.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"619","DOI":"10.1017\/S0003055401003045","article-title":"Resurgent mass partisanship: the role of elite polarization","volume":"95","author":"MJ Hetherington","year":"2001","journal-title":"Am Polit Sci Rev."},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0337176.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"469","DOI":"10.2307\/1959651","article-title":"Generational change and the decline of party identification in America: 1952 \u20131974","volume":"70","author":"PR Abramson","year":"1976","journal-title":"American Political Science Review."},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0337176.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"861","DOI":"10.1086\/681670","article-title":"It\u2019s nothing personal: the decline of the incumbency advantage in US House Elections","volume":"77","author":"GC Jacobson","year":"2015","journal-title":"The Journal of Politics."},{"key":"pone.0337176.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"McDonald MP. From pandemic to insurrection: voting in the 2020 US presidential election. Boston: De Gruyter; 2022.","DOI":"10.1515\/9783110766837"},{"key":"pone.0337176.ref012","unstructured":"Downs A. An economic theory of democracy. New York: HarperCollins; 1957."},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0337176.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"269","DOI":"10.1086\/687533","article-title":"Political homophily in social relationships: evidence from online dating behavior","volume":"79","author":"GA Huber","year":"2017","journal-title":"The Journal of Politics."},{"key":"pone.0337176.ref014","unstructured":"Berelson BR, Lazarsfeld PF, McPhee WN. Voting: a study of opinion formation in a presidential campaign. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 1954."},{"key":"pone.0337176.ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mason L. Uncivil agreement: how politics became our identity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 2018.","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226524689.001.0001"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0337176.ref016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"856","DOI":"10.1080\/00045608.2012.720229","article-title":"Voter migration and the geographic sorting of the American Electorate","volume":"103","author":"WK Tam Cho","year":"2013","journal-title":"Annals of the Association of American Geographers."},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0337176.ref017","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"556","DOI":"10.1017\/S002238160808050X","article-title":"Polarization in the American Public: misconceptions and misreadings","volume":"70","author":"MP Fiorina","year":"2008","journal-title":"The Journal of Politics."},{"key":"pone.0337176.ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Keith BE, Magleby DB, Nelson CJ, Orr EA, Westlye MC. The myth of the independent voter. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1992.","DOI":"10.1525\/9780520912236"},{"key":"pone.0337176.ref019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Klar S, Krupnikov Y. Independent politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2016.","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9781316471050"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0337176.ref020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"63","DOI":"10.1177\/106591290005300103","article-title":"Party attachments and state election laws","volume":"53","author":"BC Burden","year":"2000","journal-title":"Political Research Quarterly."},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0337176.ref021","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"557","DOI":"10.2307\/1963175","article-title":"Party identification, realignment, and party voting: back to the basics","volume":"85","author":"WE Miller","year":"1991","journal-title":"Am Polit Sci Rev."},{"key":"pone.0337176.ref022","unstructured":"Ansolabehere S, Iyengar S. Going negative: how attack ads shrink and polarize the electorate. New York: Free Press; 1995."},{"key":"pone.0337176.ref023","unstructured":"Wolfinger RE, Rosenstone SJ. Who votes?. New Haven: Yale University Press; 1980."},{"key":"pone.0337176.ref024","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102591","DOI":"10.1016\/j.electstud.2023.102591","article-title":"The partisan costs of automatic voter registration","volume":"82","author":"E Seljan","year":"2023","journal-title":"Electoral Studies."},{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0337176.ref025","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1587","DOI":"10.1111\/ssqu.13225","article-title":"Growing and distinct: the unaffiliated voter as unmoored voter","volume":"103","author":"JM Bitzer","year":"2022","journal-title":"Social Science Quarterly."},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0337176.ref026","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"173","DOI":"10.1016\/S0962-6298(98)00071-7","article-title":"Party registration choices as a function of the geographic distribution of partisanship: a model of \u2018hidden partisanship\u2019 and an illustrative test","volume":"18","author":"TS Arrington","year":"1999","journal-title":"Political Geography."},{"key":"pone.0337176.ref027","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"387","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1022637002301","article-title":"Crashing the party: an experimental investigation of strategic voting in primary elections","volume":"114","author":"TL Cherry","year":"2003","journal-title":"Public Choice."}],"container-title":["PLOS One"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0337176","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,16]],"date-time":"2025-12-16T18:33:14Z","timestamp":1765909994000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0337176"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Ching-Hsing","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"editor","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,16]]},"references-count":27,"journal-issue":{"issue":"12","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,16]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0337176","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,16]]}}}