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Are Online Political Influencers Accelerating Democratic Deconsolidation?

  • Social media campaigning is increasingly linked with anti-democratic outcomes, with concerns to date centring on paid adverts, rather than organic content produced by a new set of online political influencers. This study systematically compares voter exposure to these new campaign actors with candidate-sponsored ads, as well as established and alternative news sources during the US 2020 presidential election. Specifically, we examine how far higher exposure to these sources is linked with key trends identified in the democratic deconsolidation thesis. We use data from a national YouGov survey designed to measure digital campaign exposure to test our hypotheses. Findings show that while higher exposure to online political influencers is linked to more extremist opinions, followers are not disengaging from conventional politics. Exposure to paid political ads, however, is confirmed as a potential source of growing distrust in political institutions.

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Metadaten
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Author(s):Rachel Gibson, Esmeralda Bon, Philipp DariusORCiD, Peter Smyth
Parent Title (English):Media and Communication
ISSN:2183-2439
Publication year:2023
Publishing Institution:Hertie School
DOI:https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v11i3.6813
Release Date:2023/08/04
Volume:11
Issue:3
Hertie School Research:Publications PhD Researchers
Centre for Digital Governance
Licence of document (German):Metadaten / metadata
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