Social media’s impact on political landscape

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR) — As Election Day gets closer, Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are using every method at their disposal to get out their campaign messages.

Social media is one of the major tools that the candidates are using to reach potential voters.

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Apps, such as TikTok, X, and Facebook, are proving to have a major impact on the American people’s political landscape.

Professor Joel Kaplan, Associate Dean for Professional Graduate Studies at Syracuse University, said he sees his students feeling the negative impacts of social media.

“They’ve been told that it’s the difference between democracy and autocracy,” Kaplan said. “They’ve been told it’s the difference between reproductive choice and no choice. So, I think it’s starting to weigh on them.”

Outside the classroom, both sides of the political spectrum appear to be feeling the stress that is circulating with the upcoming election. Some students with Newhouse at Syracuse think there are ways to alleviate that worry, especially when it is related to misinformation.

“You have to keep in mind that some sources aren’t reliable, so you have to go to the actual person where the information should be coming from,” Sofia Abdullina, a senior student, said.

Kaplan said a few of his students had the opportunity to attend the DNC and RNC conventions this year. During their trips, social media was found to be one of the most popular forms of media to get political information from.

“I was in Philadelphia, and there’s such a range of different people throughout the city,” Adyana Trudel, a senior student, said. “I talked to people who are old, young, and just everywhere in between and a lot of them were, I think, scared of the media.”

But Abdullina said platforms, such as TikTok and YouTube, also empower Gen Z influencers to have a conversation about the political climate.

“There’s a lot of influencers that I personally watch that speak out on issues and, I think, because Gen Z is so vocal about issues…they’re able to connect to everyone,” she said.

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