Social Media and Political Engagement Across Generations in 2020
Date
2021-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Social media and offline political participation have a complicated relationship. There
is discrepancy between the size of social media’s effects, if any. The year 2020
brought unprecedented events, such as a global pandemic and national civil unrest
surrounding race and the police. During these events, life for many Americans moved
online, and they turned to social media for information and to pass the time.
Americans of all ages had to become acclimated to a web-based environment. This
research is focused on looking further into the possible correlation between social
media and voting through a generational lens in the context of the events of 2020. It
seeks to answer, 1) how did the coronavirus and national civil unrest affect the
navigation and use of social media across generations? 2) How did the change in
social media use of voters in different generations impact understanding of Covid? Of
social unrest surrounding race and the police? And 3) is increased social media use
(across platforms and time spent on social media) correlated with voting. Data was
collected from respondents who partook in the national CCES online survey through
YouGov. Through this data, there was no correlation between social media and voting
discovered. There were, however, findings regarding to the correlation of generation
and social media use, the use of social media as an information source between
generations, and social media’s correlation with political efficacy.
Description
Keywords
Social media, Political participation, COVID-19, Coronavirus, Generational studies