Social Media And Modern Elections

A single TikTok can redefine a candidate faster than a week of traditional ads, and that reality is changing American elections in real time. We sit down with educator Spencer Burrows to trace how campaign communication evolved from “earned media” moments to Facebook fundraising, Twitter as a direct line to voters, and now podcasts and short-form video that reach people who don’t even think of themselves as political. Along the way, we ask what this means for Gen Z voters, whose political information often shows up as quick clips, creator commentary, and algorithmic recommendations. 

We also get honest about the darker incentive structure baked into platform design. When engagement rewards outrage, candidates and even members of Congress can feel pushed to grandstand and chase viral moments instead of doing the slow work of negotiation and compromise. We talk about how rage bait spreads, why attention gets fragmented, and how a “big” viral controversy can distract from the issues that actually shape people’s lives at the local, state, and federal level. 

Then we pivot to solutions that educators, students, and everyday voters can use right now: go to the source, compare multiple perspectives, and learn to frame better questions before reacting. We also look ahead to AI and deepfakes, why they’re so concerning, and why a healthy skepticism is quickly becoming a core civic skill. If you care about media literacy, civic education, and the future of democratic participation, listen, share this with a friend, and leave us a review so more people can find the show.

Check Out the Civic Literacy Curriculum!

School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership

Center for American Civics

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

All right. Welcome back to Civics in the year. I'm back with my Civics homie, Spencer Burroughs. And if you have not listened to our episode on the emergency/slash chatter document, and it was right before this, highly suggest it is always fun to chat with a fellow Supreme Court junkie, nerd, whatever we want to call ourselves. So Spencer is back with us. And today we're talking about something I am super interested in. Social media and modern elections. And that was like

Why Social Media Changed Campaigns

SPEAKER_01 0:47

the biggest deal ever. But now we have lots of social media, not even just like one. So welcome back. The first question I have for you. How has social media kind of changed the way campaigns have to communicate with voters compared to, I'm going to say previous generations, but yeah, like my generation?

SPEAKER_00 1:13

So I think it's important to make a distinction between how campaigns now have to kind of operate in the social media space, but also how are younger voters consuming social media? Because now we're talking about Gen Z being voting age. And I think that's creating a whole different set of set of priorities. So I think we need to take a step back and think about how candidates have used social media in the past. And I think that kind of colors like exactly where we are today. And if you rewind a little bit, and I'm glad you mentioned Bill Clinton, the saxophone, and Bill Clinton was also the one who jumped on Rock the Vote right back in like '92.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Oh my gosh, MTV.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Right? So it if you take that concept though, like jumping on emerging media or like almost like earned airtime. In 2008, then the new candidate Barack Obama was kind of the first one to use Facebook, which was still an emerging technology, slash social media was getting off the ground.

From MTV To Facebook Fundraising

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Obama was the first one to really use Facebook for fundraising, effectively, right? And then the rest is history, he gets elected, so on and so forth. Trump in 2016, he was the first to use Twitter as a direct communication with voters. And when you think about that, that is kind of radical to the extent that before all the candidates' messaging on the campaign trail was filtered through the news media, right? They they were on talk shows or the the news reporters from major outlet would go to a rally and they'd interview people. You'd you'd buy airtime, right? The vast majority of your campaign cash on the media end was probably buying ads or something like that. When Trump jumped on Twitter, he just bypassed that entire system. Now he was messaging directly to the people, and that was very effective for him, right? So while we're sort of talking about Trump, him campaigning for his current seat, he also pretty successfully jumped on all these different podcasts, right? And it's hard to quantify because we can't really attach numbers to it. But going on a wide array of podcast hosts like Theo Vaughn, Joe Rogan, so on and so forth, I think you could argue that exposed them to all these different audiences, maybe captured some voters who were not political junkies internally online, but they showed up to vote and they did that anyway, right? Last but not least, in the New York City mayoral race that recently happened, uh Zoran Mamdani, who ended up winning, used TikTok videos very effectively. And that could be a product also of you have to look at that electorate. We're talking about New York City. We're talking about maybe as compared to other areas, a younger electorate who is online, who's on social media. So all that said, I think his use of TikTok caught the attention of both Republicans and Democrats, thinking like, well, how are we going to use social media in the next election, whichever one that might be? And this guy did it really well with TikTok, and maybe we need to figure out how to do that too.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

It's funny because you talk about the mayoral race. Like I can hear some of the songs that were created because my daughter is on TikTok. And it is interesting, like, even it feels like, and I I don't know if this is factual, but it feels like, you know, when Kamala Harris and Donald Trump went on podcasts, like this is again a new like campaign strategy. So what role do you think algorithms and platform design play in shaping political information and political opinion during elections?

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Something we've seen more and more, and again, I can't quite attach numbers to this, but we are aware that the social media algorithms seem to drive, at least in part, on outrage. And I don't want to just make it sound completely dark, but the more outrageous a video is, the more it seems to catch fire on social media. So if we're going to try to transplant that over to the political realm, you know, videos and messages that sound outrageous of some sort, those are the ones that are really catching on. Now, where that I think becomes essentially very problematic on the political end is that that would seem to incentivize candidates or current electeds to be producing these videos or messages that are getting more and more outrageous. And if there's something that we have seen for sure, it's that Congress itself has gotten more and more polarized. And if you talk with or you hear from members of Congress who have been serving for any number of years,

Twitter Direct Messaging And Podcasts

SPEAKER_00 6:20

definitely like pre-social media, a lot of them say the same thing. Like Congress has gotten so much more polarized over the last X number of years, maybe 10 to 15, probably at least in part because of social media, because social media is incentivizing these now current members of Congress to grandstand and film the video. Everything is becoming a social media spot. Walk by the Capitol most days of the week, and you will see somebody on the Capitol steps filming a video of some sort ranting about something, right? Like that that's becoming more commonplace, almost the rule rather than the exception. So I would say that's a negative incentive that's now being pushed by social media.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Right. To get people to comment and to kind of engage with it. Because if I'm if I'm scrolling, let's say, and I see a video of a gold retriever, which is pretty much my entire algorithm, if we're being honest, because I have a gold retriever, like I'm not really likely to comment on it. I might like it because it's adorable and cute. But then on the other side of it, if they're talking about a sports team I really like, right? Right now we're in the WNBA season, right? If we were in college football season, it'd be a different story. But if somebody posted something, you know, uh hateful against a team or a player that I like, I'm more likely to comment because I want it, like, there is that. So it is interesting how Rage Bait has kind of become a political campaign strategy because it has had to, because that's how you get views, that's how you get people interacting with it. It's really interesting. So if we're talking to educators, then how can educators help students evaluate this like political content, misinformation, and sources that they find online? Because we know that like looking at TikToks, like you only have like five seconds really to get those. Because the honest thing is like kids aren't listening to the Joe Rogan podcast or Kamala Harris was on Call Her Daddy. Kids like, I don't know, uh high school students are listening to that. And maybe they are, and hopefully they're listening to this. That would be awesome. But they're really getting their information in these like quick bite-side things. So, how can educators help their students with that kind of media literacy?

SPEAKER_00 9:01

In our last podcast, you and I were discussing the court, and one of the recommendations I gave was that you need to go to the source. Like if you have a question about the case, actually read the case opinion or at least the messages being put out by the court itself. As far as social media goes, and if we're talking about candidates, for example, in an election, my advice to students would be don't just stop at you saw a video about a candidate doing something, or it was portraying a candidate in a certain way. Go back to that candidate site, read through it, pull up some of their messages and some of their videos, try to get a sense of where they're actually standing, might be radically different than how they're being portrayed on social media, or how some influencer or some personality is discussing that person, right? Like as far as media literacy goes, you always have to diversify your sources. You never just rely on even if it's what we would consider trustworthy media, don't just listen to one opinion. Like, really try to try to read deeply and get some some different opinions at the very least. You mentioned like younger people, well, they're probably not listening to podcasts. True, at least not the ones that we listen to, right? However, their I'm just gonna use TikTok as an example, their TikTok algorithm is getting completely filled by messages and people, often not the candidates themselves, talking something about politics. And I'll give an example. During the government shutdown last year, which was the big government news for some time, one of my students in AP US government and politics found me on a Monday morning and said, Oh my goodness, did you hear about the big thing that happened over the weekend? And I was aware something had happened with the shutdown. There was some announcement. That's what I thought she was talking about. No, she had seen

Algorithms Outrage And Polarization

SPEAKER_00 10:50

something on TikTok about some random school board meeting in Mobile, Alabama, that I don't even know what the issue was. In the grand scheme of things, it was so inconsequential, but it was outrageous and it was on the feed. And from her point of view, and I I think she is a more well-versed student, from her point of view, that that seemed like a big issue, and it really was not. So, what that told me though is I feel like part of our job now as educators is just being able to frame what the important issues are for students, and they can come to their own opinion on the issue ultimately, but it's almost like we have to play filter for the filter. Like what they are being exposed to can be so far out of bounds in terms of where their attention should be. That's problematic. And maybe we can do a whole different podcast just on intention, but I like the fact that a number of people are sounding the alarm, like how fragmented our attention has become with social media and all these different things that I feel like students a lot of times aren't even asking the right questions. That is something they can be trained to do.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

So, and I think this would be a good question to ask in a class, but I'm gonna ask you too. And I think it's just like a thought experiment because I don't know that there's a right or wrong answer. But do you think that social media platforms as a whole strengthen democratic participation because they can increase engagement and get people who maybe wouldn't have been engaged, you know, kind of get them in? Or are they contributing more to this polarization and distrust?

SPEAKER_00 12:40

I follow local politics also pretty closely in my town. I'm a commissioner at the city and I'm aware of issues going on in our surrounding area. I would say for local elections, social media on net is probably more helpful because it's giving a voice to candidates who don't have name recognition, they don't have a war chest support the campaign and it allows them to kind of get their voice out there. I think you could say the same is true all the way up to the federal level. You're running for Congress, you're you don't have a party endorsement, you're new to this, you don't have the same same money to spend. That can give you a platform to go forward. Whether or not Mondami would have gotten elected without TikTok, I don't know, but I think it's there seems to be evidence to suggest, like, yeah, TikTok really helped them platform as a candidate, especially over a well-known figure like Cuomo. So, in that sense, it is maybe supporting democratizing the process on the flip side, and this is where it's it's impossible to put numbers on it, but we've also seen all the negatives with social media in terms of warping the politics, providing the wrong incentive structure. You know, I think we're mainly looking at us as consumers and citizens, but maybe it would be a reasonable ask to really push members of Congress and the people around them to stop putting out so many random messages and videos and hit pieces, and rather get back to the hard work of negotiating and compromising and all the things that, according to some, just don't really seem to be happening much anymore.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

So, looking ahead, what concerns or opportunities do you see in the future of elections

Teaching Media Literacy For Politics

SPEAKER_01 14:40

in our increasingly digital and AI-driven media environments?

SPEAKER_00 14:48

The idea of AI deep fakes is obviously very troubling because the technology is getting better and better. We can all think of the the terrible outcomes from an outrageous video that's totally fake, but it shows something crazy. So my hope is as that technology evolves, consumers also become more aware of recognizing deep fakes. I was surprised having conversations with my the juniors and seniors, 16, 17, 18-year-olds, about because they are so much on social media, and hopefully because we've been yelling so much about the problem with deep fakes and AI, so on and so forth, that they're on the lookout for it more. And I think you know, the it's almost going all the way back to that debate in 2016 or fake ads on Facebook helping get someone elected. My reaction to that was always you're the consumer. Like what that's what convinced you to vote for a candidate. That's kind of scary. So I would hope, as the citizen and the voter and the consumers, having a skeptical eye to what you see online, don't believe everything you see in the videos. Like, like I said before, try to actually go to the source and see what candidates themselves are putting out. This is really a stretch, but actually show up in person to some of these town halls and forums, and you know, there's always been some great groups like League of Women Voters, Rotary, like these nonpartisan groups that are really trying to provide some level of civic education to voters. Go to those events and ask ask questions. And this might be too much to ask, but pushing people to stopping so much keyboard warriors on social media, hiding behind a screen, just talking trash, and actually showing up in person, asking hard questions to candidates, having debates. I love that that term touching grass has just become this ubiquitous like get off your technology and come back to the real world. 100% true. So I hope more of that happens for sure.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

Well, in conversations, and again, I think I think this might age me, and I'm okay with that, is I was always taught to have conversations, right? Like if you and I are having a conversation right now, even though we're a state away, you're in our neighboring state. But these conversations are important. And I think having a level of humility, that's uh that's what this podcast has taught me because I thought I knew a lot. And in these like 250, right, I'm learning so much and I'm questioning things. And for me, used to be on social media a lot, and now I've kind of like trimmed it down to two things because I just, like you said, I'd rather read a book or I just finished writing a dissertation, which takes a lot of study and time, but it's also like it's good exercise for your brain.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

I love how you just equated like reading a book is the same thing as writing a dissertation. Like I'm trying to put so much work in that dissertation. Congratulations, by the way, on finishing. But yeah, you're you're busy.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

It's but it's research and it's I think people think like, I just don't have time to look at local issues, or I just don't have time to, you know, do this. Or a lot of what I've heard, especially when it comes to social media and elections, is well, I don't like either candidate, so I'm just not gonna vote. Like I'd rather, you know, it's kind of that apathy. What are your hopes though? First, like let's end this on a positive. What are some hopes for that social media and elections? Because we've also seen some really cool things. Like you said, the New York mayoral race. Like when it's used in a positive manner, it can yield good things.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

I think greater interests. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but greater interest in civic issues is a good thing. And if it's social media that is drawing in the younger, younger voters, younger citizens to be interested in the issues, well, I think that's a good start. And then now they're they're somewhere in the ballpark. I've been telling my students, you know, I think they are going to be a hot commodity for campaigns going forward because all these campaigns at every level, president all the way down, are now all scratching their heads asking, well, how do we connect with the younger voters? It's like the perennial question. Okay. I think these students entering college and maybe graduating college, they're the ones campaigns are looking to pick up because campaigns want them as a social media consultant of some sort. Show them how to film the videos and what platforms to go on, what influencers to collaborate with, so on and so forth. I think that's definitely an opportunity. I hope that social media continues to evolve in a more positive direction, at least as far as politics and candidates and campaigns go. I think the last couple, we'll just talk about presidential elections. Like I think the last couple of presidential elections, again, has highlighted how important social media can be. And I think with that increased focus, I'm interested to watch how the 2028 race starts to play out. I think once it starts gaining full scheme after the upcoming midterms, how they're gonna choose to leverage social media, how they're gonna try to draw in younger voters. And I think because those younger voters are probably, for better or worse, still gonna be terminally online for a while, well, they're gonna be seeing it. So hopefully what they're seeing at least draws them in to ask those questions, to start to do some research, to have good discussions. You and I are always trying to think about like the ultimate positive end, but I do appreciate that civic's uh education has taken the forefront in recent memory because it it is something that's very important. It sounds like people from all levels

Deepfakes AI And Touching Grass

SPEAKER_00 21:12

of all political stripes are now kind of beating the drum on, you know, if civic ed has kind of fallen off in high school the last 20 years, it's time to bring it back, it's time to make it more of a focus. However, that might look at different schools and districts and states, so on and so forth. I hope that trend continues. And I hope more focus and effort is put into that kind of programming.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

And I would agree because I think at the end of the day, people you know call on social media companies to make changes. And I really think it's the responsibility of us as the consumers to understand civics and how it works, and then apply that knowledge to our usage of social media. So when you see things, you can just kind of have that more. Critical eye, right, on things. And you talk about this generation. I'm going to be honest, I have so much hope for this new generation because it feels like they just get it. And they know and they care and they show up. And it is genuinely such a refreshing thing to see this wave of younger citizens and voters who just care so much and are doing all of these really cool things. I don't know. I think that they're great. And I think, again, there's maybe a little bit of bias because we're educators and we get to see really, we get to see the students and see how they work and what they're doing. And we're not just hearing flips on social media. Spencer, thank you for just again having a conversation with me about social media and elections. And again, if you guys have not listened to the previous episode on the emergency slash shadow docket, please do. I always appreciate having practicing educators to have these conversations with because civic education is so important, but it doesn't go anywhere without dedicated professionals like you who are in classrooms, who are doing the work, who

Hopes For Gen Z And Civic Ed

SPEAKER_01 23:22

are on the front line. So, Spencer, you rock. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

Liz, thank you for having me. We got to do it again soon.