Impact of Media, Advertising, and Public Opinion

Polling

The foundation of a  representative democracy is the ability of voters to hold elected officials accountable. Polls can play an important role in democratic accountability by identifying the greatest concerns of voters that candidates should address and the policies that voters most want candidates to support. Polling can also contribute to democratic responsiveness between elections by helping incumbents (the person who is in office) to anticipate what voters expect.

 

Media Coverage

It’s true that the media have played an important role in politics since the First Amendment established freedom of the press as a cornerstone of American democracy. Voters need information to make educated decisions, and it’s journalists’ job to give it to them.

 

Six Ways Media impacts campaigns:

(1) Journalists get involved in elections by choosing which candidates to cover and how much. Those choices alone can have a huge effect on voter perceptions, because the biggest thing that drives elections is simple name recognition.

(2) Research reveals that many major media outlets attract partisan audiences, which reflects political biases in their coverage. 

(3) Media  (social media) is a direct line of communication to the masses (the voters) and often they do not realize the coverage may be bias coming from certain outlets and depending on whether there is a prejudice against a particular politician.

(4) Visual communication research has shown that images, especially of political candidates, that convey emotions, actions, realism and credibility have a lasting impression of voters and can influence their vote.

(5) Fact Checking is occurring daily; journalist are checking to see which politicians are being truthful and are sharing this information with the public

(6)  "Watchdogs of Democracy" are there to make sure the political process, particularly voting and elections are fair and equitable access is available to all citizens. 

 

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