An election ‘for you’

A  new generation that grew up using social media is preparing to vote for the first time in November. Many who do so will also be casting a “social vote,” as well. 

The “social vote” phenomenon is the idea that people are likely to vote if those in their socialized groups are voting, according to Lee Rainie, researcher for Pew Research Center. Younger voters are more motivated to vote in an election if those they surround themselves with – such as family, friends and peers – plan on voting as well. 

In 2020, a Pew Research Center survey found that 41% of adults ages 18-29 received political information from social platforms. Among today’s 18-to-29 year olds, the bulk of whom are Generation Z,  64% use Facebook, 62% use Tiktok, 78% use Instagram and 42% use Twitter (X), a Pew survey found. 

The nature of social media’s influence on the 2024 election has changed from previous years, said Margaret Talev, director of  SU’s Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship. In this election, she explained via e-mail, social media’s impact will be three-fold: news, misinformation and influencers. 

“Social media also has a huge potential to spread either inaccuracies or deliberately false information on topics ranging from Joe Biden or Donald Trump’s policies to who can vote to conspiracies about the Baltimore bridge collapse,” Talev said.

Political influencers

Independent political influencers, such as Harry Sisson and Vitus “V” Spehar, will additionally have a large impact on Gen Z’s behavior in the election this year, Talev said. These content creators have emerged on platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, amassing thousands and sometimes millions of followers, and have begun to reshape how many members of Gen Z get their news. 

John Spina, freshman who has a large following on Tiktok, said he believes that there will be a surge in political videos on the platform’s “for you” pages. “It’s going to be very, very important given that most of Gen Z will be able to vote this election,” he said. “The closer that we approach November, the more we’re going to be seeing tons and tons of videos about the election.”

Issy Beranbaum, a sophomore who will be voting for the first time in November, said she has seen others rely on social media as a main source of political information. However, she chooses not to engage with political content on social media platforms because the content appears to be “more opinion than factual based.” 

“Social media can definitely skew opinions and kind of lead to the extremes on either end of the political spectrum. You don’t necessarily see a lot of information from moderates or independent voters,” Beranbaum said. “It’s more so very strong Democrats, very right leaning Republicans and not necessarily the middle ground, which I think creates an unbalanced opinion in terms of what the political scope is like in America.” 

Cringe campaign

The language of social media is also a challenge for many candidates, Beranbaum said. “Gen Z is so critical and picky about the media that they consume. One wrong post and you will be a laughingstock for the rest of the campaign.”

The choice of candidates is motivating some young voters to use their social platforms to discourage their peers from voting at all, said Ben Martin, a sophomore at Syracuse University studying advertising and entrepreneurship. He has seen many young voters posting online that they don’t plan to vote or plan to vote third-party because they don’t like either candidate. 

“There’s no excitement about either candidate,” Martin said. “So it’s going to come down to which political party can have the best content and excite us again.”