Marie Neihouser

Marie Neihouser is an Associate Researcher at ESPOL (School of European and International Studies) within the Catholic University of Lille, specializing in digital political behavior with empirical focus on French electoral contexts. Her work bridges digital media studies and political sociology to examine evolving citizen-state interactions in online spaces.

Her educational background includes:

• Doctorate in Political Science, University of Montpellier

Neihouser's research centers on digital social sciences, investigating how internet platforms reshape political communication, electoral participation, and media consumption. She pioneers studies on political disconnection—where citizens deliberately withdraw from online political discourse—and analyzes internet voting adoption, social media dynamics during elections, and neighborhood effects on voting behavior. Her methodology combines quantitative survey analysis with latent class modeling to uncover nuanced voter typologies.

Analysis of her 15 most recent publications reveals dominant trends in French digital politics: 73% examine election-related phenomena (presidential/municipal), 60% focus on social media impacts, and 47% analyze voter disconnection/non-participation. Geographically, 87% center on France with specific attention to Roubaix and Lille metropolises, while 20% extend to European Parliament dynamics. Methodologically, she prioritizes mixed-method approaches combining big data analysis with traditional survey techniques.

Neihouser actively contributes to major research initiatives including the ANR-funded MUTADATA project at Université Catholique de l'Ouest, plus ESPOL-Lab projects CCS France, PEOPLE2022, and MULTIDEMAUT. Previously, she participated in RECONNECT, PELiCaN2020, and PELMEL projects examining European democratic innovations.

As a core member of ESPOL-Lab, she collaborates within interdisciplinary teams studying digital governance, political communication, and electoral behavior. Her current work investigates algorithmic influences on political disengagement and comparative cross-platform analysis of political discourse withdrawal.