Misinformation In American Politics

Misinformation has had no better outlet than the internet, spawning and being spread by millions of users daily. Like an epidemic, false information spreads throughout the population, infecting the minds of the people that encounter it, however, it is easy to debunk misinformation using logic and proactive research. So, if information is relatively simple to validate, why is false information being readily believed and advocated for by large parts of the population? The answer is that the polarization of politics has given almost every issue a bias and persuasive edge. Organizations, government representatives, and prominent individuals utilize rhetoric that insight anger and anxiety that leaves the public vulnerable to the embracement of misinformation.

is in an ever-worsening predicament, left and right politicly minded citizens are shifting further and further apart, with a conglomerate of fringe views becoming the norm within their respected party. As this phenomenon of polarization has developed it has fueled larger and more fierce debates within Washington D.C. and the American public. Many of which devolve into arguments with no foreseen end, with both sides exhausted and having made no progress in persuading the other to agree with their agenda. However, many people believe that polarization is the status quo in America politics and that the numerous conflicts are an inevitability. That the acceptance of misinformation has some other external cause. This state of mind is a relatively recent development, that is especial prevalent in younger generations. This is due to an abundant of conservative politicians that were strongly opposed to Barack Obama due to his race and liberal views. Since his presidency lasted for such an extended period, the false information spread about Obama, like his citizenship being forged, became common and accepted in the minds of people that held a distaste for him. This is shown in Weeks research, Emotions, Partisanship, and Misperceptions: How Anger and Anxiety Moderate the Effect of Partisan Bias on Susceptibility to Political Misinformation, that in 2013, 64% of Republicans said it was “probably true” that Obama was hiding information about his birth place, and that 58% of Republicans expressed anger at Obama (713). Thus, the interaction of aversion and partisanship facilitated the belief in the false information. As American politics becomes increasing polarized, an increasing amount of misinformation will be taken up as fact in the minds of opposing groups, as a result of the escalated anger that is produced with repetitive political