Sumitra Badrinathan

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Welcome! I am an assistant professor of political science at the department of Politics, Governance, and Economics at American University's School of International Service. Before joining AU, I was a postdoc fellow at the University of Oxford's Reuters Institute. I earned my Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2021.

My research examines misinformation, media, and politics, with a regional focus on South Asia. My work spans three substantive areas. (1) Countering misinformation: How can we make citizens more resilient to falsehoods? (2) Accountability for misinformation: How do we hold elites responsible for spreading false information? (3) Impacts of misinformation: What are the political and societal consequences of misinformation on violence, prejudice, and quality of democracy?

Methodologically, I rely on field experiments, original surveys, and primary data collection. I often collaborate with civil society organizations and government institutions to design projects that evaluate policy impacts and produce actionable evidence. My latest project involves a long-term randomized controlled trial providing education on misinformation to over 13,000 schoolchildren across nearly 600 villages in India (learn more here).

My work has has been published in academic journals such as the American Political Science Review (x2) and PS: Political Science and Politics as well as popular press such as The Washington Post. It has also been featured on podcasts such as Scope Conditions and Grand Tamasha, as well as Indian media outlets like The Hindu, Scroll, and Hindustan Times.

I hold an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in Psychology from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. Outside of work, I enjoy hiking in U.S. national parks, going to indie/alternative rock gigs, and cheering (mostly suffering) alongside Philadelphia sports fans.

You can access my CV here and my Google Scholar page here.


American University
School of International Service
Washington DC 20016

sumitrab[at]american[dot]edu

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[11] Badrinathan, Sumitra, Simon Chauchard, and Niloufer Siddiqui. 2024. Misinformation and Support for Vigilantism: An Experiment in India and Pakistan. American Political Science Review

[10] Fletcher, Richard, Sumitra Badrinathan, et al. 2024. The link between changing news use and trust: Longitudinal analysis of 46 countries. Forthcoming, Journal of Communication

[9] Badrinathan, Sumitra and Simon Chauchard. 2024. Researching and Countering Misinformation in the Global South. Current Opinion in Psychology.

[8] Badrinathan, Sumitra and Simon Chauchard. 2023. "I Don't Think That's True, Bro!" Social Corrections of Misinformation in India. International Journal of Press/Politics: 1--23.

[7] Mont'Alverne, Camila, Sumitra Badrinathan, Amy Ross Arguedas, Benjamin Toff, Richard Fletcher, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen. 2023. Domain-Specific Influence on Facebook: How Topic Matters when Assessing Influential Accounts in Four Countries. Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media: 3

[6] Mont'Alverne, Camila, Sumitra Badrinathan, Amy Ross Arguedas, Benjamin Toff, Richard Fletcher, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen. 2023. Fair and Balanced: What News Audiences in Four Countries Mean When They Say They Prefer Impartial News. Journalism Studies: 1--18.

[5] Ross Arguedas, Amy, Sumitra Badrinathan, Camila Mont’Alverne, Benjamin Toff, Richard Fletcher, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen. 2023. Shortcuts to Trust: Relying on Cues to Judge Online News from Unfamiliar Sources on Digital Platforms. Journalism: 1--23.

[4] Kim, Eunji, Sumitra Badrinathan, Donghyun Danny Choi, Sabrina Karim, and Yang-Yang Zhou. 2022. Navigating Insider and Outsider Status as Researchers Conducting Field Experiments. PS: Political Science & Politics: 1--5

[3] Ross Arguedas, Amy, Sumitra Badrinathan, Camila Mont’Alverne, Benjamin Toff, Richard Fletcher, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen. 2022. ”It’s a Battle You Are Never Going to Win”: Perspectives from Journalists in Four Countries on How Digital Media Platforms Undermine Trust in News. Journalism Studies: 1--20.

[2] Badrinathan, Sumitra. 2021. Educative Interventions to Combat Misinformation: Evidence From A Field Experiment in India. American Political Science Review 115(4): 1325--1341


[1] Badrinathan, Sumitra, Devesh Kapur, Deepaboli Chatterjee, and Neelanjan Sircar. 2021. Partisan Disagreement: The Role of Media, Personal Networks and Gender in Forming Political Preferences. Urbanisation 6(1): 141--157.




Countering Misinformation Early: Evidence from a Classroom-Based Field Experiment in India
with Priyadarshi Amar, Simon Chauchard, Florian Sichart (R&R, American Political Science Review)
Working Paper


The Religious Roots of Belief in Misinformation: Experimental Evidence from India, with Simon Chauchard (R&R, British Journal of Political Science)
Working Paper


WhoWants Impartial News? Investigating the Determinants of Preferences for Impartiality in 40 Countries
with Richard Fletcher et al. (R&R, International Journal of Communication)


The Effect of Labeling False Social Media posts in Brazil, India, and the UK,
with Richard Fletcher Simge Andi, Benjamin Toff, Camila Mont'Alverne, Rasmus K. Nielsen
Pre-analysis plan


Examining Urban/Rural Gaps in Trust in News Across Four Countries
with Camila Mont'Alverne, Amy Ross Arguedas, Benjamin Toff, Richard Fletcher, Rasmus K. Nielsen




Deconstructing Meta-Narratives of Misinformation to Counter Prejudice: A WhatsApp-based Experiment,
with Niloufer Siddiqui and Simon Chauchard


The Political Economy of Local Journalism and Misinformation,
with Adam Auerbach


Sharing Falsehoods in an Information-poor Environment: An Experiment with Indian Teenagers
with Priyadarshi Amar, Simon Chauchard, Florian Sichart
pre-analysis plan


Home and Away: Explaining the Political Behavior of the Indian American Diaspora,
with Milan Vaishnav and Devesh Kapur


Norms of Deference and Belief in Misinformation
with Simon Chauchard
pre-analysis plan


The effect of credibility labels on trust in news
with Richard Fletcher, Camila Mont'Alverne, Amy Ross Arguedas, Benjamin Toff, Rasmus K. Nielsen
pre-analysis plan


The effect of corrections featuring fact-checks from news organisations on false COVID-19 social media posts in Brazil, India and the UK
with Richard Fletcher, Simge Andi, Benjamin Toff, Rasmus K. Nielsen
pre-analysis plan


Ethnic Identity vs. Partisan Loyalty: A Multi-Experiment Analysis of Indian American Voting Preferences,
with Milan Vaishnav and Devesh Kapur


From Pilot to Policy: Successes and Lessons from a Long-Term Media Literacy RCT in India,
with Priyadarshi Amar, Simon Chauchard, Florian Sichart




Badrinathan, Sumitra, and Devesh Kapur. 2021. Religion, Caste, Class, Politics: How Urbanization Affects Social Interactions and Political Behaviors. Chapter.
In Colossus: The Anatomy of Delhi, edited by Sanjoy Chakravorty and Neelanjan Sircar. Cambridge University Press




Seeds of Discord: How Misinformation Erodes Democratic Norms in South Asia,
with Niloufer Siddiqui and Simon Chauchard. (Manuscript in progress for Cambridge Elements series on Politics of Development)




Spring 25: Experimental Design (Undergraduate Seminar)

Fall 24: Comparative Political Economy (Graduate Seminar)

Fall 23: Political Misinformation and Fake News (Graduate Seminar)






Political Change in the Third World (PSCI 116)
Teaching Assistant. Instructor: Professor Rudy Sil

Statistics for Political Science (PSCI 338)
Teaching Assistant. Instructor: Professor Marc Meredith
Lab R code is available in this repository.

International Human Rights (PSCI 258)
Teaching Assistant. Instructor: Professor Eileen Doherty-Sil

Introduction to American Politics (PSCI 130)
Teaching Assistant. Instructor: Professor Marc Meredith


Teaching Awards
Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching by Graduate Students, University of Pennsylvania (2019)

Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching by Graduate Students, University of Pennsylvania (2019)