Voting has changed a lot over the years, with the rise of social media playing a big part in helping a citizen make their choice at the polls.
That is according to Trevor Harrison, a retired professor of political sociology at the University of Lethbridge. He believes the upcoming federal election, like votes over the last decade, are embedded with “much more intense partisanship”.
“People’s voting choices might have actually been more flexible in the past, but people have kind of hardened their determination, particularly on the right,” Harrison notes, adding it is proving more difficult to sway people’s opinions when it comes to their vote.
He is optimistic though that with more discussions being held about ‘strategic voting’, that could change, primarily with electors on the progressive left.
“A lot of them, I think, this time around, are going to give up their partisanship and presumably are thinking about moving toward the Liberals,” Harrison remarks.
SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCE
Harrison says that the prevalence of social media has created a culture of polarization when it comes to modern politics.
“People are a bit confused by the information [on social media], but they tend to go to sites that reinforce what they already believe, so the effect of that is to not have a lot of challenges to your preconception of politics and the choices that you make,” he states.
Harrison says he does not want to romanticize “the idea that generations past were particularly or better informed” about the political scene, but in years past, there was a large emphasis on print media, as opposed to what voters now find online.
“We see that literacy, generally, is kind of decreasing, so I think the move to being influenced by social media has a couple of effects,” he says.
“One is you’re not exposed to ideas that kind of challenge you, so a lot of social media sites state what you already know and that’s why you’re going there. The other thing is a lot of people are now prone to getting their information off just soundbites and headlines, so they don’t read the entire story.”
He continues, “That means they’re not getting a very full picture of what is going on or about the issues or the candidates. The final thing of course is, we know that social media is prone to an awful lot of ‘fake news’ and people who are simply manipulating voters.”
Harrison says it is so important to do your own research when preparing to vote and avoid believing everything you quickly see online.
“Again, I don’t want to romanticize voters in the past, but I do think there is a tendency for people in general now who are coming along as the next generation of voters and are on social media to be less well-informed, although interestingly enough, they think they are incredibly well-informed,” the retired professor remarks.
ATTENTION SPANS
A big draw of social media is quick hits users might see while scrolling through their feed, which, as entertaining as those can be, could be detrimental, according to Harrison.
“As a society, our attention spans are actually decreasing, so to really read into and to think about issues deeply requires that you actually use your brain for a little bit longer than a quick heading,” he says.
“A lot of that is just the new technology that has come along, [and it] is not helping us to think about things in a kind of very deep way.”
FAMILY INFLUENCES & ‘TRIBALISM’
Even with the popularity of social media, another influence noted by Harrison is that of a voter’s parents or other family members.
“I do think tradition habits, and how your parents [and grandparents] voted, are still very much a factor. You don’t have to think very far around a lot of ridings in Alberta, where there’s a kind of consistency of voting patterns over a long period of time,” he says.
“It’s also more generally, you tend to vote for who members of your group are, and so there’s a kind of tribalism about voting.”
The retired professor adds, “To some extent, again, it would be nice to think people are going out there and trying to find their own ideas and make their choices, but that tribalism is also very present in terms of social media. That’s where you get your feeds from, [and] you’re unlikely to go to sites that are going to challenge what you already believe and that’s a very human kind of thing.”
Harrison believes as humans, we want to be a part of a group, a feeling that is comforting for many. “We also like to believe that what we believe is sustained by other people in our group. It’s comforting to think we’re all part of a mindset of how we view the world and politics in general,” he states.
“I think in some ways; social media has prevented kind of reaching the aisle to other kinds of ideas and other people in a way we didn’t see in the past.”
MEDIA
Harrison encourages everyone to support local media, especially considering many smaller community-led news outlets have been forced to shut down due to funding cuts and other factors.
“I think media can play a real role in furthering democracy and furthering legitimate debate, but we have to be really wary of that,” he says, noting technology and the monopolization of media have led to challenges for smaller, locally-owned outlets.
“We don’t actually have very many alternative voices in the media now. A lot of the media is owned by just a few large players. [With] local media, there just isn’t the funding to kind of sustain them, so you find small-town newspapers going under and what happens is of course, they tend to take their feeds for their stories from the big media chains.”
Harrison adds that local media can be a key in bridging the gap, “Between what the political parties say and how people make their political choices”.
Voters will head to the polls for the 2025 federal election on April 28.
