1st Edition
Social Media Politics Digital Discord in the 2020 Presidential Election
Social media and social networking services are integrated into the American political process and have profoundly influenced political communication and participation. Social media platforms have transformed the political landscape by revolutionizing information dissemination, citizen engagement, and public opinion formation and change. Politicians use social media to communicate directly with voters in an unmediated and unfiltered manner. Comparatively, voters use social media to follow the latest messaging from politicians accompanied by demonstrating their support for particular politicians.
This book is a comprehensive examination of the role of digital and social media in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Political discourse during the 2020 election revealed political disharmony and a deep political division among vast swaths of Americans that was powered, in part, by social media. This book reveals how digital and social media have reshaped power dynamics by altering the relationships among citizens, politicians, and traditional media outlets, the emergence of new influencers, and the impact of online activism on policy agendas.
This book, Social Media Politics, includes scholars with varied backgrounds and experience, using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, from leading research institutions around the nation. Students, scholars, and practitioners will gain new knowledge to more clearly understand the role social media played in the 2020 presidential campaign.
Table of Contents
List of Figures …...............................................................................................................................vi
List of Tables ….................................................................................................................................vi
Acknowledgments ….........................................................................................................................ix
About the Editors...............................................................................................................................xi
About the Contributors …...............................................................................................................xiii
SECTION I: SOCIAL MEDIA AND POLITICAL DISHARMONY
Chapter 01: “The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election and Social Media and Trump: Fomenting Controversy and Distrust in the Democratic System” ………………………………………….1
John Allen Hendricks and Dan Schill
Chapter 02: “Social Media Bonding and Bridging in the Political Polarization of the 2020 Presidential Election” ………………………………………………………………………..30
Hyun Jung Yun
Chapter 03: “Incivility in 2020 Presidential Candidate Social Media Posts and Posts That Cite Them”……………………………………………………………………………………61
Kate Kenski, Stephen A. Rains, Yotam Shmargad, Kevin Coe, and Steve Bethard
Chapter 04: “Emotional Contagion as the New Propaganda? Examining Fear’s Mediating Effect on Political Advertising Exposure in Social Media”……………………………………86
Abby Hendricks Salopek, Kristen Sussman, and Pooja Iyer
Chapter 05: “Presidential Tweets in the News: How did the Partisan News Media Report on the Candidates’ Tweets during the U.S. 2020 Presidential Election Campaign?” …………124
Monica Ancu, Miyoung Chong, and Stephen Song
SECTION II: SOCIAL MEDIA AND PARTISAN DIVISION
Chapter 06: “How Social Media Shaped Political Expression, Partisan Identity, and Trumpism Resistance Efforts During the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election” ……………………………..158
Pamela A. Labbe
Chapter 07: “Voters-Turned-Political Influencers: Social Media Users Maintain Popularity by Cultivating Support for 2020 U.S. Presidential Election Candidates” ……………………192
Katelyn E. Brooks and Mariah L. Wellman
Chapter 08: “Platform Guardrails: Social Media Accountability and Political Communication” …......................................................................................................................225
Joshua M. Scacco, Andrew J. Anderson, and Mitchell Popovic
Chapter 09: “Information Warfare Fostering Political Polarization: Facebook Addiction, News Credibility, and Concern of Foreign Interference” …....................................................257
Danielle R. Mehlman-Brightwell and Mark J. Piwinsky
Chapter 10: “The ‘Big Lie’ Lurked Online: Social Media and Perceptions of Electoral Integrity Prior to Election 2020” …...........................................................................................286
Sharon E. Jarvis and Dakota Park-Ozee
SECTION III: SOCIAL MEDIA AND POLITICAL DISCOURSE
Chapter 11: “The Politically Engaged: Gen Z’s Use of TikTok and Instagram in the 2020 Presidential Elections”.............................................................................................................317
Nune Grigoryan
Chapter 12: “Advancing Populist Rhetoric through the ‘Migrant Caravan’ Frame” .......355
Daniela V. Dimitrova and Beau Coberley
Chapter 13: “Late-Night Political Humor and the 2020 Presidential Campaign: Still All Trump, All the Time” …..........................................................................................................379
Stephen J. Farnsworth, S. Robert Lichter, Farah Latif, and Sally Burkley
Chapter 14: “Blame the Cobwebs or the Spiders? The Impact of Social Media Use on Political Knowledge and Political Participation” …..............................................................403
Alec Tefertiller and Raluca Cozma
Chapter 15: “Narrating the Pandemic: Compounding Crisis, Metajournalism, Politics & Presidential Responses Between Communication Ecology and Collective Memory” ……….....435
Daryl A. Carter and Mildred F. Perreault
Index …………………………………………………………………………………………
Biography
Dan Schill is Professor in the School of Communication Studies and Affiliate Professor in Political Science at James Madison University, where he teaches courses in advocacy, political communication, research methods, and media and politics. His research focuses on communication, politics, media, and technology.
John Allen Hendricks is Chair of the Department of Mass Communication and Professor at Stephen F. Austin State University, a member of the University of Texas System, where he teaches courses in communication theory, research methods, First Amendment law, and media and politics. He has authored/edited more than 12 books and has received book awards from the National Communication Association (NCA) and the Broadcast Education Association (BEA).
“Pernicious levels of political disharmony, partisan divides, and uncivil discourse, occurring in an information environment dominated by social media, combined to create a perfect storm in the 2020 presidential election, the aftermath of which is still being felt today. Bringing together a mix of established and emerging scholars, Social Media Politics provides insightful new ways to make sense – both theoretically and practically – of the role of communication in contemporary politics. Highly recommended to students, scholars, journalists, and practitioners.”
Michael X. Delli Carpini, Oscar H. Gandy Emeritus Professor of Communication and Democracy, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
“No one doubts that social and digital media are contributing mightily to the vicious polarization in our politics. Waves of disinformation originate on Facebook, Twitter, and all the rest—and feed dangerous attacks on democracy, as we saw on January 6, 2021 with the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Effective solutions aren’t easy to find, but Professors Dan Schill and John Allen Hendricks, and their distinguished group of contributors, dig deep and show us how devilish the problem is. This book will leave every reader with a much better sense of what our political system is facing.”
Larry J. Sabato, Director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics
