What Effect Does Social Media Have On American Politics

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Now more than ever, people find themselves trapped in the midst of American politics because of the vast social media coverage. But what effect does social media have on American politics? One side argues that social media has opened up a vast world of information to better educate political parties and voters. Those on the other hand argue that the same vastness of information dilutes true political issues and can misinform potentially informed voters. The argument I present today suggests that the usage of social media in American politics today has created a larger divide between political ideologies, having the greatest influence on the most active social media users, Millenials and Gen Z. Since the creation of the U.S. political landscape, …show more content…

The turbulent policies and attacks during the late 90’s and early 2000s and the further development of electronic media made this generation a likely candidate for being politically charged, but that wasn’t the case. While the vast landscape of social media has made sharing ideas and gaining information easier than ever before, the over saturation of politics in daily life has drained these voters of any interest in politics at all. Political polarization can be witnessed in the last three decades, where a shift towards radical followings in both conservative and liberal ideologies has taken place. A poll with results from 10,000 adults conducted by the Pew Research Center found just how far the median of political opinions have shifted: The overall share of Americans who express consistently conservative or consistently liberal opinions has doubled over the past two decades from 10% to 21%. And ideological thinking is now much more closely aligned with partisanship than in the past. As a result, ideological overlap between the two parties has diminished: Today, 92% of Republicans are to the right of the median Democrat, and 94% of Democrats are to the left of the median …show more content…

Her entire argument hinges off of the correlation between increased media activity from 2018, a non-election year, to 2020, a year that was plagued with a global pandemic, national elections, and other major headlines. The basis of her information is holes because these 2 years are not similar enough to be comparable by themselves. Looking past that, the evidence is not concrete either, creating their own slippery slope, arguing that correlation of increased social media usage should equal the causation of grander polling turnouts. Gilmartain even acknowledges the holes in her argument, saying, “there is no direct connection between social media usage and voter turnout, it is only implied.” Another source has claimed to have found a correlation between online and offline forms of political engagement. The data found has suggested “that as teens become more comfortable discussing and engaging in politics online, there is a positive relationship between that online action and the physical forms of civic engagement offline.” (Oden). They found a correlation between those who are comfortable with sharing political ideas online with taking action and accountability in their ideals offline as well. While this correlation seems to hold water at first glance, we must take into account that they are using a specific group of people to prove this point. The data was

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