Alberto STEFANELLI

Bio

I am currently a Lecturer jointly appointed in the Departments of Political Science and Statistics & Data Science at Yale University. My research uses quantitative and experimental methods to investigate radical voting behavior, democratic backsliding, and political polarization across the United States, Europe, and Latin America. In addition to research, I develop open-source tools to support the research community and actively contribute to international networks that advance innovative and inclusive methodological training. You can reach me at albertostefanelli.com

CV

• Lecturer, Political Science & Statistics, Yale University (2024–present)
• Fulbright visting fellow Yale University, New York University (2021-2023)
• Doctoral Researcher, KU Leuven (2020–2024)
• Link: https://albertostefanelli.com/cv/cv_stefanelli.pdf

Areas of research

• Populism and political radicalism
• Ideological and affective polarization
• Democratic erosion and backsliding
• Survey, conjoint experiments, causal inference

Teaching

•  Data Science for Political Campaigns

•  Election Fundamentals and Forecasting

•  Data Exploration and Analysis

•  Introduction to Conjoint Experiments (graduate level)

Research

Current research projects (selected)

Populist Authoritarianism: Left, Right, and Center (with Milan Svolik)

This study examines the heterogeneity in citizens’ commitment to democratic principles based on their (i) left, center, or right political orientation and (ii) populist or mainstream political tendencies. We employ a candidate-choice survey experiment conducted in 15 different countries.

Corruption and Partisan Feelings: A Valence Perspective on Explaining Affective Polarization (with Andres Reijan)

We combine observational and experimental data from six European countries to investigate how perceptions of corruption intensify negative emotions toward political opponents, contributing to affective polarization.

Trading Off Green Costs: How Voter Priorities Influence Support for Climate Policies Amidst the Green Transition (with Théodore Tallent)

Citizens are generally concerned about climate change, yet this concern often fails to translate into electoral support for green policies. Using a candidate-choice experiment, we assess how, why, and to what extent voters are willing to trade off costly climate policies when these conflict with salient non-environmental priorities.

Costly Choices: Examining the Hidden Costs of Supporting Corrupted Politicians in Survey Experiments

This study aims to improve the external validity of survey experiments by better approximating real-world voting behavior. We develop a typology of costs that help explain why citizens may overlook corrupt behavior in experimental settings

Publications

• Stefanelli, A., Silva, B., forthcoming, “Unaffected Polarisation? Populism and Affective Polarization in comparative perspective,” Political Psychology.
   
• Stefanelli, A., Abts K., Meuleman B., 2025, “Freedom for all? Populism and the Instrumental Support of Freedom of Speech,” West European Politics, DOI: 10.1080/01402382.2024.2434798.  

• Stefanelli, A., Meuleman B., Abts K., 2023. The Ontological Core of Political Radicalism. Exploring the role of Antagonist, Dogmatic, and Populist Beliefs in Structuring Radical Ideologies. Contemporary Politics, DOI: 10.1080/13569775.2023.2269664. 
   
• Stefanelli, A., 2023. The Conditional Association Between Populism, Ideological Extremity, and Affective Polarization. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 35(2), p.edad014. DOI: 10.1093/ijpor/edad014.