Yao Yu
Undergrad Fellow, 2022-23
Government
Yao Yu is a recipient of a 2022 CAPS Undergraduate Summer Thesis Research Grant. His proposed thesis is entitled, “Applying Social Media Data to Measure Voter Sentiment.”
Proposal synopsis:
My thesis will explore further into the emerging method of using social media data to measure voter sentiment during American elections. The specific research question I ask is: Can social media data be used to either improve or provide a more accurate estimate of voter sentiment compared to traditional polls? Three main objects that I address include: sentiment on a state/local level, bot detection improvement, and improved demographic classification of users.