How Does Media Affect Political Participation?

As a representative democracy, all citizens of the United States are granted the right to vote for their government officials. Although voicing one’s opinion through voting and political participation is heavily encouraged throughout our lives, the truth of the matter is that a vast majority of the eligible population choose not to participate in the political process. Only 57% of voting-age population decide to participate according to 2012 presidential election polls (248). Despite the fact that I believe residents of our country should get informed and involved in political processes, the U.S. would not be better off if most eligible citizens began participating due to ignorance, media manipulation and too many differing opinions. In a …show more content…
Furthermore, according to OpenStax, media attention plays a vital part in determining which candidate ends up with the most potential through the ‘bandwagon effect’ (229). As the media gives more attention to candidates who win favorability polls, people tend to overlook the candidate’s full backstories and go with whoever seems to be the most popular one. Because of the media’s manipulation towards the candidates, it would be better off for people not to vote rather than have them vote for a candidate simply because they were featured more by the media. Media coverage plays a crucial and powerful role in political processes as proven through our current, ongoing presidential election. The more coverage whoever the media favors at the moment gets, the more likely it is they will gain the public’s vote. Additionally, it affects how much money a candidate can receive in campaign donations. This can provide a huge advantage for one candidate while the other is struggling and increase the odds of them doing poorly. Therefore, if most eligible voters participated, they would more than likely just base their vote on whoever is being favored by the media regardless of whether or not they are the best