Welcome!

You will find some details here about my research. Please get in touch!

About me

I am a doctoral candidate at Central European University in Vienna. I deal with questions in political behavior and psychology using experiments & other tools for causal inference. My dissertation investigates the changes in the temporal salience of partisan group identity and their effect on out-group hostility and affective polarization. My other projects look at the limits of citizen accountability on complex or controversial issues such as drug regulation or political scandals. I am a serious hobby cyclist and I like to read about animal behavior.

Publications

• Hamrak, B., Simonovits, G., Rusnak, A., & Szucs, F. (2024). Why Politicians Won’t Apologize: Communication Effects in the Aftermath of Sex Scandals. British Journal of Political Science. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123424000292

• Simonovits, G., Szucs, F., Hamrak, B., (2025). Door to door campaigns in an electoral autocracy: Evidence from Hungary. Journal of Politics. https://doi.org/10.1086/735870

• Hamrak, B., Simonovits, G. & Szucs, F. (2024). Equilibrium communication in political scandals. European Journal of Political Economy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2024.102580

• Hamrak, B. (forthcoming). How Winning and Losing Impact Partisan Identity and Affective Polarization. Electoral Studies. Conditionally accepted

Current research

Citizen accountability and representation:

• Status quo bias and preferences for drug legalization: Evidence from a novel experimental approach (with Gabor Simonovits) Revise & resubmit

• From President to Pavement: Does Female Leadership Spur Women’s Local Political Engagement? (with Daniel Kovarek)

• Evaluating Democracy: Lay Perceptions vs. Experts Assessments in Hungary (with Alexander Bor)

• How Identity Fragmentation Complicates Voter-Party Congruence (with Jozef Michal Mintal, Felix Butzlaff, Robert Vancel, Kamila Borsekova) Revise & resubmit

Partisan identity:

• Can common identities reduce out-party animosity? Quasi-experimental evidence from football games

• Antisemitic dog whistle or simple partisan cueing? Assessing the effect of the Soros campaign in Hungary Revise & resubmit (with Erin Jenne, Levente Littvay, Gabor Simonovits)

• In-party favoritism or out-party threat? Testing the mechanisms behind citizens’ differential support for democratic norm violation in opposition and government (with Kata Moravecz, Mariyana Angelova, Levente Littvay, Jennifer McCoy, and Gabor Simonovits)