Abstract
Politicians and pundits have made trust in the administration of American elections an issue of political disagreement. Combining politicization with inflexible partisan polarization could undermine an essential condition of democracy: the peaceful transfer of power following elections. Can messaging about trust in elections break through partisan polarization? Partnering with election officials from Los Angeles County, Colorado, Georgia, and Texas, we used messaging experiments with nearly 8,500 Americans following the 2022 US midterm elections to measure the impact on trust in elections. We find that state and local election officials are particularly effective at increasing trust in their own state elections. Our pooled estimate suggests that one 30-second official advertisement increases trust in local elections by about one-fifth of the pre-treatment difference between Democrats and Republicans. Videos explaining protections on election integrity in Arizona and Virginia increase trust that our national sample reports in elections administered outside their own state. Our results suggest election officials can break through partisan politics and play an important role in rebuilding trust in the democratic process.