The U.S.’ electoral system incentivizes the spread of misinformation, which has the potential to undermine democracy.
The U.S.’ electoral system incentivizes misinformation.
The country has a first-past-the-post election method, which generally pits one party against the other in winner-take-all fights where the best electoral strategy is to cast opponents as evil. This system has led to an increase in affective polarization – disliking and distrusting those from the other political party. Those who are affectively polarized are more likely to believe misinformation coming from within their party.
The U.S. has some of the highest levels of affective polarization, and the two major parties are becoming more extreme. Because of this, there is a desire to form a strong group identity while simultaneously criticizing the other group. Misinformation helps affirm people’s beliefs that their party is right and the other party is wrong. When politicians can’t compromise or deliver on issues that are most important to their constituents, they are incentivized to spread misinformation about their opponents.
Misinformation has the power to undermine democracy.
Some candidates purposely spread misinformation as a way to gain support and popularity, which can cause voters to vote based on incorrect information. The 2022 primary elections included several candidates running for offices at the local, state, and federal levels perpetuating the dangerous myth that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Trump and was rampant with voter fraud. The spread of false information about the voting systems on social media destabilizes the public’s trust in election processes and results.
The prevalence of misinformation makes people less trusting of our political system. NPR found that 64% of Americans believe U.S. democracy is “in crisis and at risk of failing.” That sentiment is felt most acutely by Republicans, with two-thirds of GOP respondents agreeing with the verifiably false claim that "voter fraud helped Joe Biden win the 2020 election."
This lack of trust in the system can lead to lower voter turnout across the country. For example, in New Mexico, roughly 25% of eligible voters cast ballots during the state’s 2022 primary election, which is lower than the 2018 and 2014 primary elections. Despite the inclusion of same day voter registration in 2022, election officials in the state have suggested that the lack of trust in the voting system was one of the factors that led to low turnout.
People are more likely to believe misinformation that aligns with their party affiliation.
A peer-reviewed study published in the Behavioral Sciences journal examined the factors that contributed to people believing fake news in the week following the 2020 U.S. election. They found that political conservatism and greater approval of the outgoing president were associated with more belief in false headlines about election fraud. Participants in this study rated headlines consistent with their political ideology as more accurate than those that were inconsistent with it, indicating that they are more likely to believe misinformation when it is coming from within the party they align with.
Similarly, polling from Rasmussen Reports in 2022 shows that Democratic voters overwhelmingly agreed with Hillary Clinton that Russians interfered in the 2016 election, leading to Trump’s victory. They found that 72% of Democrats believed it was likely the 2016 election outcome was changed by Russian interference, compared with only 30% of Republicans and 39% of voters not affiliated with either major party. President Biden’s strongest supporters had higher levels of belief that Russians interfered in 2016, with 86% saying it was likely that Russians interfered and 75% fearing that they would interfere again in the midterm elections.
The U.S. needs to reform its electoral system.
Regardless of voters’ education level about the dangers of misinformation and warning signs to look out for, it is inevitable that they will consume misinformation in some form – especially if it is coming from candidates they support. Thus, it’s necessary to address the issue from another angle and enhance our political system so that candidates can attract voters without spreading misinformation about their opponents or the election system.
Even if the country were to magically dismantle all misinformation, polarization would not automatically decrease. “The real problem is not that misinformation is tricking us, but that we find misinformation useful.” In addition to combating misinformation through fact checking and media literacy, the focus should be making misinformation less valuable to voters, politicians, and media in the first place.
Two reforms that change incentives for candidates so that misinformation is less useful are:
