Social Media’s Role in Shaping Political Discourse during Election Periods

Date of Submission

11-17-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Political Science

Advisor

Patricia A. Crouse, Ph.D.

Keywords

Social Media, Political Discourse, Voter behavior, Misinformation, Emotionally Driven Content, Algorithmic Personalization

LCSH

Social media—Influence, Rhetoric--Political aspects, Political participation, Misinformation, Information filtering

Abstract

This study explores social media’s role in shaping political discourse and voter behavior during election periods. The study uses a combination of content analysis and post-election survey to investigate how political information is organized, delivered and distributed on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and X. The results indicate that both the format of a post and algorithm driven design influence the type of political content users encounter. Short visual formats, such as videos and memes were most likely to contain misinformation, and demonstrated how rapidly emotionally driven content can spread across social media, revealing how often engagement is prioritized over accuracy. Survey results show that users experience high exposure to political content, through personalized feeds that reinforce existing beliefs and contribute to echo chambers and political tension. Although the majority of respondents reported neutral or cautious trust in the political information they encountered online, they still engaged with large amounts of political content during election periods. Many users were concerned about misinformation, but there was no consistent behavior regarding fact-checking, which demonstrated the difficulty of navigating large volumes of information on social media. Overall, this study shows that algorithmic personalization, emotionally driven content, and constant exposure collectively shaped political discussion online and influence how voters make sense of political information.

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