Prebunking False Election Claims May Boost Trust in Elections

New research from a multi-university team has found that “prebunking” – providing accurate information before falsehoods spread – is more effective than traditional fact-checking in maintaining public trust in elections, particularly among previously misinformed individuals.

Published in Science Advances, the study reveals promising strategies to combat the rising tide of electoral misinformation that has eroded confidence in democratic processes worldwide in recent years.

Researchers from the University of Notre Dame, Dartmouth College, the University of Groningen, and the University of Southampton conducted three large-scale studies examining results from elections in the United States and Brazil, two countries where misinformation has significantly undermined electoral trust.

“This research shows that facts, when delivered plainly and ahead of misinformation, can minimize the effect of inaccurate information,” explained Brian Fogarty, associate professor of the practice at Notre Dame’s Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society and one of the study’s co-authors.

Interestingly, the team discovered that including forewarnings – alerts that people might be misled – can actually reduce prebunking’s effectiveness. “When we warn people that they might be misled, especially in a highly polarized environment, they can become more skeptical of the message itself,” Fogarty noted.

The researchers compared two common approaches for correcting misinformation. The first utilized situational credible sources, where political figures confirm election legitimacy. The second approach tested prebunking, which provides factual information before exposure to misinformation, potentially shaping how people process subsequent information.

For the U.S. 2022 midterm elections study, both correction methods boosted voter confidence, but prebunking had more lasting effects on beliefs about voter fraud, particularly among the most misinformed participants.

In Brazil’s contentious 2022 presidential election, prebunking proved even more effective at building election confidence and factual understanding. “In Brazil, we saw a particularly strong effect from prebunking,” Fogarty said. “The facts were nonpartisan and required no background knowledge about political actors, making prebunking especially promising in fast-moving political environments.”

A follow-up U.S. study revealed that prebunking was significantly more effective without forewarnings. Including warnings about misleading information slightly reduced effectiveness, especially among Republican participants.

The findings come at a critical time when democracies worldwide face unprecedented challenges from digital misinformation. Social media platforms have amplified false claims about electoral processes, while highly polarized political environments make fact-checking increasingly difficult. Countries from the United States to Brazil have witnessed growing segments of their populations questioning legitimate election results based on unfounded fraud claims.

Prebunking offers several advantages that make it particularly valuable in today’s media landscape. It is nonpartisan, doesn’t require specific election context, and effectively reaches broad audiences. These qualities make it a potentially powerful tool for policymakers, platforms, and journalists seeking to preserve democratic integrity.

“I’m optimistic that even though there is still research to be done, prebunking can be considered as a powerful tool for countering election misinformation — especially when it’s delivered clearly, early and without partisan cues to support informed citizens and resilient democracies,” Fogarty said.

Nitesh Chawla, founding director of Notre Dame’s Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society, emphasized that this project exemplifies the institute’s mission of addressing complex societal challenges through interdisciplinary, data-driven approaches that support democratic processes.

Despite these promising results, the researchers acknowledge that additional studies are needed to assess prebunking’s long-term effectiveness, its application in diverse cultural contexts, and how it interacts with real-world media environments.

As democracies continue to grapple with misinformation challenges in an increasingly digital world, this research provides valuable insights for preserving the fundamental trust that underlies functional democratic systems. The findings suggest that timing and presentation of factual information may be just as important as the information itself when it comes to maintaining electoral confidence.