Political Participation Analysis

During the 2014 midterm election, analysts recorded the lowest voter turnout since World War II (DelReal). Only 36.4 percent of the eligible voting population cast ballots, which illustrates the continuing decline in midterm election voting participation (DelReal). While the results are disappointing, analysts are not shocked; since the 1964 election, when voter turnout was almost 49 percent, political participation has experienced continual decreases (DelReal). The decline cannot be ignored, as all people must participate in government processes in order to promote freedom of speech. Therefore, the United States of America must address the issue of low political participation, but this is a complicated task. One solution, which appears to

be extremely effective, is harnessing the wide range of entertainment, particularly social media, to increase political participation. Numerous studies have been conducted to illustrate the viability of entertainment as a solution to this problem, although more research must be conducted in order to further promote political participation in the country.

Many studies have analyzed the impact that Facebook exerts on political involvement. One study was conducted on the Congressional midterm election day of 2010, when over sixty million users on Facebook received a special message encouraging them to vote. These users observed messages at the top of their news feed pointing to the nearest poll places, offering a place to select “I Voted,” and displaying a list of their friends who had already voted. Two smaller groups, with roughly six-hundred thousand people each, were the control groups. One group was given voter-encouragement messages without reference to the behavior of Facebook friends. The other did not receive any voting-related messages. The researchers also analyzed the voting behavior of 6.3 million subjects using records available to the public. The study found that “the Facebook social message increased turnout directly by about 60,000 voters and indirectly through social media contagion by another 280,000 voters, for a total of 340,000 additional votes” (Bond et al, 5). Therefore, online political messages do contribute to a visible difference in voting behavior. Facebook, as a specific source of entertainment, can be used to positively impact voter

turnout. The findings have ramifications not only for people of eligible voting age, but for all social media users as well, as political messages may influence all people to become more involved in government operations. Social media is not the only form of entertainment media that may be studied to determine its political impact. In another study, the authors analyze the political relevance of graphic novels. When research is expanded to include a greater range of entertainment, an increasing number of connections between politics and entertainment will be established. With regard to the political campaigns, Holbert et al. state “political message providers are proposed to consider the audience actively and strategically utilizing various media channels while the audience is refined as individual ‘consumers’ or ‘enjoyers’ rather than ‘subjects’ of ‘mass education’” (439-40). Therefore, entertainment must be viewed as an individualized experience in order to exert a significant impact on political engagement, for broadcasting general messages to a large group does not personalize the experience.
Other studies analyze engagement in political studies online and offline, with a focus on the role of social networking sites on socioeconomic status.

Class differences, particularly those concerning the amount of education, are eminent in online, offline, and social networking site (SNS) activity. However, the class differences are less noticeable in the SNS sphere. Furthermore, political engagement on SNS drastically increased between 2008 and 2012, when the survey was conducted. According to the Pew Research Center, “the number of social networking site users has grown from 33% of the online population in 2008 to 69% of the online population in 2012.” With this increase comes a notable number of SNS users that claim their SNS activity that led them to conduct additional research and become involved in social and political issues. Lastly, despite the growth of online platforms designed specifically for political activities, “Americans’ day-to-day political conversations mostly occur offline” (Smith). The source illuminates the wide range of factors that could influence one’s political activity in this new era of technological advancements. Politicians must be weary of their campaign strategies, as a strategy that combines online messages with offline messages appears to be most

effective.
There is a considerable amount of controversy over the influence of entertainment on politics. Some experts argue that entertainment does not impact political engagement. While the amount of political information transmitted through the television and the internet has increased, knowledge of politics has not noticeably changed. Prior proposes that with a variety of choices in media, people are now able to more efficiently select the content they prefer. Those who prefer news will utilize the copious political information from this outlet to increase their knowledge of politics, thus becoming more likely to vote. On the other hand, people who favor entertainment will disregard the news, which makes this group less likely to vote. To test his theory, Prior conducted a survey of 2,358 residents of the United States. The results indicated that “new media do indeed increase political knowledge and involvement in the electoral process among some people… other people take advantage of the greater choice and tune out politics completely… people’s media content preferences become the key to understanding the political implications for new media” (Prior 587). Prior addresses entertainment in a new way. Instead of covering the way all individuals react to political messages through entertainment as a whole, the study suggests that different groups of individuals may react in a unique way. Thus, the individual’s preference of media must be considered when conducting these studies.
Other studies support this finding and expand the research to include the impact of SNS on civic engagement, including both protesting and voting. Analyzing data from thirty-six studies, Boulianne attempted to cover a wide range of populations, including youth and people not living in the United States. Contained in these studies were 170 distinct coefficients, or single factors that would be studied to determine the correlation with SNS use. Based on self-reported surveys, the studies range in the number of respondents, with some as few as 250 and others as large as 1,500. The study found that “the metadata provide little evidence that the social media aspects of the campaign were successful in changing people’s levels of participation. In other words, the greater use of social media did not affect the likelihood of voting or participating the campaign” (Boulianne 534). However, it is difficult to determine causation within a study, and the researchers retain a cautious attitude toward the results of the study.
Therefore, while some experts may disagree that entertainment positively influences political behavior, more research must be conducted to provide a definite conclusion. Since the age of social media is still young, researchers must adjust to this change and update studies with new information. For now, the solution to the low levels of political involvement in the United States population does remain, at least partially, grounded in entertainment. Entertainment, especially social media, should be utilized to encourage political engagement through voting, protesting, campaigning, or other activities. This is not to imply that face-to-face communication should be disregarded, as offline behavior still plays a large role in political strategy. However, with the massive number of people that now use the internet for everything from online shopping to quick news reports, people are exposed to a plethora of information from a variety of sources. If information about politics is made more readily available online, additional people would become involved in the politics of the United States.