"... if your only exposure to political news in the coming elections is to passively listen to those with whom you agree ... you’ll never learn anything new or have reason to question anything that you have heard."

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Noise, spin undermine political process
Guest editorial, July 30, 2014

With politics jammed at voters 24/7 from every form of media, the cacophony of partisan noise is undermining the political process rather than expanding knowledge and understanding of it.

America has transformed into a nation where individuals hear and see news the way they want it spun with political outcomes predicted to occur the way they want them to. And when it doesn’t happen, rather than doubt their own judgment or the sources of their information, they lose faith in government and democracy.

At least that’s the takeaway from a report on a study released last week by the University of Georgia.

In the research, Barry Hollander, a UGA professor, analyzed 5,914 survey responses conducted by the American National Election Study that were taken before and after the 2012 presidential election in which President Barack Obama won re-election over the challenge of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. That was an election in which a great many Romney supporters, confident there would be a change in the White House, were surprised that their candidate did not prevail.

Hollander calls that the theory of wishful thinking. Another way of looking at it is simply false hope.

In examining the data, Hollander found that “surprised losers” — those who incorrectly predicted their candidate would win — were more skeptical of government, democracy and the election process than were those who supported the same candidate but had been expecting the loss. In the Obama-Romney race, he noted, 78 percent of Romney’s supporters believed Romney would win, though polls showed Obama leading.

Hollander said one problem may have been the way Americans consume information. For instance, we can recall hearing a number of conservative pundits, particularly on cable TV news and talk radio, decry the polls as flawed, arguing the numbers just “looked” bad because the pollsters were supportive of Democrats.

The more fragmented our media have become the more people are hearing what they want to out of their news and the more surprised they are when the outcome doesn’t turn out as they’ve expected, which could further erode trust in elections, democracy and government.

Indeed, if your only exposure to political news in the coming elections is to passively listen to those with whom you agree — whether on TV, on radio or on social media — you’ll never learn anything new or have reason to question anything that you have heard. It may feel more comfortable, but it is a false security with no opportunity for growth as critical thinking skills atrophy.
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