Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation
12-2020
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Department
Political Science
Degree Program
Political Science, MA
Committee Chair
Gainous, Jason
Committee Co-Chair (if applicable)
Enders, Adam
Committee Member
Enders, Adam
Committee Member
D'Silva, Margaret
Author's Keywords
Social media; political fear; fear
Abstract
Abstract: Using the American National Election Study data from the 2012 and 2016 surveys I explore how social media usage shapes fear. This is likely caused by the nature of social media leading to oversharing of sensationalized articles likely to elicit an emotional and fearful response. My findings suggest first that social media usage has a statistically significant effect on whether they would say they are afraid of a candidate (2012) and how afraid they say they are of the candidates (2016). Second, social media has little effect on economic fear, and may actually make people more hopeful about the economy. Third, that this effect is strongest amongst millennial voters.
Recommended Citation
White, Shane R., "Social media and fear: social media as a catalyst for political fear in the United States." (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3552.
https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/3552
