Tweeting Trust: The Influence of Social Media Consumption On Public Confidence in Elections

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Abstract

The factors that affect public opinion on electoral legitimacy have been widely studied on a macroscale. Yet, little research addresses what drives the individual’s confidence in elections. How does news consumption via social media platforms affect the public’s confidence in election results? I hypothesize that individuals who spend more time on social media platforms are more likely to express distrust in government processes. Other scholars find partisanship and other forms of polarization to be driving factors in how confidently individuals identify with the results of elections. I use survey data on US citizens from the 2019-2021 NationScape Project to analyze if individuals use social media for news and the effects of that use on their level of confidence in elections. As news consumption shifts from mass-broadcasting to more personalized online platforms, it is important to understand how prolonged exposure affects political viewpoints.

Author

• Leila Diallo, Howard University