Donald Trump's Political Psychological Profile in the 2024 Election Campaign: Digital Media Bias and Social Polarization
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18255/2412-6519-2024-4-424-441Keywords:
political psychological profile, Donald Trump, digital media bias, political polarization, psychology of political leadership, 2024 Election CampaignAbstract
Drawing upon original programs for processing an array of publications (n=1000) and analyzing the tonality of articles published from November 15, 2022 to March 30, 2023 on twenty digital platforms of various ideological leanings, the article examines the bias of these platforms towards Donald Trump with the intent to identify the predominant agenda in the US digital media from the official announcement of D. Trump’s entry into the 2024 presidential race until the filing of charges against him. The assumption is increasing media bias begets political polarization in society and radicalization of citizens’ political preferences. Research shows that left-wing media, the largest part of the digital media sphere, demonstrate the highest negative bias towards D. Trump, centrist media, ranking second, demonstrate a positive attitude towards the left agenda and acquire characteristics of clearly pro-Democratic platforms, and right-wing, the least popular, demonstrate equal levels of negative and positive bias, striving for constructive criticism of their political favourite. Thus, most US media, regardless of their declarations, broadcast political messages of a high level of negative bias towards the Republican candidate, seeking to influence the perception of D. Trump’s political psychological profile to benefit their editorial boards and owners.References
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