Social Media Influence on the Information Gap and Political Knowledge

Previous studies of political knowledge note that one's interest in politics determines one's knowledge level due to the high-choice media environment in which the entertainment sector competes with politics. However, much of this research predates the rise of social media, which not only increases the spread and accessibility of political information but also exposes individuals - especially those uninterested in politics - to content they might not actively seek out. In this thesis, I survey 350 individuals to explore how social media's unintentional exposure to political information impacts political knowledge. This survey reveals that low-interest individuals passively consume political content, and due to their lack of critical engagement, become more susceptible to online misinformation, which may cause them to shape their political attitudes based on incomplete or false information. In effect, social media exacerbates the gap between high and low-interest types because the quality and accuracy of the information are not guaranteed, and if consumed passively without critical evaluation it may lead to misinformed beliefs, reinforced bias, and a deeper divide between those actively engaged in political discourse and those who passively absorb misleading or incomplete information; posing a threat to the democratic health of our nation.