The atmosphere created by disinformationwhich even reached the presidential debates, and violence, After the two assassination attempts on Donald Trump, it worries many Americans limit the consumption of information during an electoral campaign which they view as exhausting, while many distrust the integrity of the process and even predicts violence after the count, indicate some of the most worrying polls less than a month before the elections.
In a survey prepared after the presidential debate by the YouGob agency, 60% of respondents cited “violence” as one of the consequences which generated the most anxiety among them when they think about the post-November 5 scenario. 48% admit to worrying that “the results will not be accepted” and 39% that “the elections will be stolen”.
To another question, 67% responded that The arrival of the presidential elections made them “somewhat or very anxious”.
Thus, the United States faces the final weeks of an electoral campaign which saw Political violence has reached alarming levels, even after assault on the Capitol of Washington DC in 2021: In less than three months, the former president Trump was the target of two assassination attemptsone at a rally in Pennsylvania and another while playing golf in Florida.
After the premiere, Trump called for unity, but After the second, he openly blamed the Democrats for his continued warnings about the threat to democracy that his second victory would pose. For their part, the Democrats emphasize that the ultimate responsible for this polarization is himself, since he still does not accept the result of the last elections and refused to accept his defeat in the middle of a debate against Kamala Harris.
“Political tension”
The tension with which the country faces the opening of the elections is such that the American Psychological Association (APP) coined a term about it: “political stress”.
“There is a considerable body of evidence showing that policy has a negative effect on a wide range of health outcomes,” says Kevin B. Smith, PhD, professor of political science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and l one of the co-authored a report published this summer on the impact of “political stress” on the health of Americans.
The study surveyed citizens during the 2018 (midterm elections) and 2020 (presidential) electoral processes and concluded that for 40% of adults, politics has become a source of stress in their lives.
“When we dug a little deeper, a significant proportion of Americans say that because of politics they are losing sleep, have damaged their social relationships, and can’t stop paying attention to social media,” Smith adds in the report.
Perhaps that’s why 60% of Americans find it stressful to discuss political issues with people with opposing views, a number that has been increasing since 2019, according to Pew Research.
The same percentage (60%) also say they limit their consumption of political news to avoid overload and mental exhaustion, according to AP-NORC and USAFacts. This latest information, four weeks before the elections, leaves the door open for misinformation to penetrate undecided votersparticularly with regard to one of the themes on which the campaign is based: immigration.
Misinformation alarm
After Trump himself broadcast a hoax during the debate to more than 60 million viewers that Haitian immigrants in the town of Springfield, Ohio, were “eating pets,” the topic made headlines. newspapers last month.
The governor of Ohio himself, Mike DeWinealso republican, I had to deny Trump after the Haitian community and local authorities received threats: “There is a lot of bullshit on the Internet. This is bullshit that just isn’t true. There is no proof. »
However, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, instead of backing down, decided to justify his speech.
“The American media totally ignored these things until Donald Trump and I started talking. If I have to create stories to make the media really pay attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do do,” he justified. during an interview on CNN.
During the last debate between vice presidential candidates, Vance himself brought up the issue again and had to be corrected by one of the moderators, who pointed out that Haitian migrants from Ohio had protected immigration status, and so they were not undocumented.
“The rules were you weren’t going to check the facts,” Vance criticized when interrupted.
The American press pointed out that after the assassination attempt on him last July, Trump – very inclined to surround himself with people who idolize him and to pay attention to conspiracy theories – left aside his more “formal” team to focus on Internet personalities.
In the Recent acts he was seen accompanied by Laura Loomer, a popular social agitator within America’s far-right bubble who has been gaining followers for years by adhering to countless conspiracy theories. He also invited around twenty conservative activists to accompany him to Philadelphia before the face-to-face meeting with Harris.
Laura Loomer, upon her arrival in Philadelphia, with former President Donald Trump’s entourage.
Reuters
The weight of influencers
Are Media Personalities Are Also Replacing Media of communication for part of the electorate tired of the current political dynamic.
“Influencers are seen as real stakeholders by their audience. They are not “media” per se, they are companions of a group. In the political domain, they are often members of a common political identity, even if the influencer is particularly charismatic or convincing: their posts resonate, so their audiences share them,” explains Renée DiResta, researcher at Stanford University on pseudosciences, conspiracy theories. and information warfare.
Although Trump’s traditional disdain for the media makes him more closely tied to this dynamic.DiResta emphasizes that influencers are not an exclusive phenomenon of the far right.
“Influencers often have many followers. This makes them very useful for campaigns, which is why more and more candidates and rights groups are working with them to get messages across,” he analyzes.
Actually, Harris has only given two interviews since becoming a candidate, one in the cnn and another in a podcast aimed at a female audience, while his campaign boosted his activity on social networks. Starting this week, the Democrat will launch a new strategy and schedule interviews on television shows.
Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, during a vote in Michigan.
Reuters
For its part, in the home stretch of the campaign, Trump’s team is strengthening its conspiracy theory integration strategy spread on social networks during their meetings, even on less ideological subjects like Hurricane Helene, which left more than 200 dead in six states in the southeast of the country.
Some Republicans, including Trump, suggested the White House was diverting bailout funds intended for people affected by the disaster to house illegal immigrants. According to this complaint, denied by the authorities and other Republicans, funds from territories with the highest rate of conservative votes would be reduced.
“Many sightings don’t even come from people on the ground. If there are any difficulties, call my office and we will find them, but most of what I have seen is just a distraction,” North Carolina Republican Senator Thom denounced this weekend. Tillis.
He crossing of accusationsbased on an accusation without proof, appears on television talk shows and in the opinion sections of the American press, further increasing the fear expressed by many voters: that on November 6, two contradictory versions of the elections will once again divide the country. .
Indeed, 48% of voters surveyed by the Gallup consulting firm consider it “a big problem” that defeated candidates refuse to accept the result, including the hundreds of middle positions that will also be voted on that day.
