Misinformation has been a large issue in politics for a long time, ever since the beginning of representative democracy. However, more and more of it has been present in American elections every year, and it is being used by politicians to gather votes from uninformed voters; for example, in the 2024 Trump-Harris debate. Donald Trump (aged 78 and the 45th president of the United States of America) recently participated in a debate with Kamala Harris (aged 59, Vice President of the United States), to allow for a comparison of each candidates’ policies and ideas for the country. As the election date edges closer, both sides are seemingly getting more desperate to come out on top, resorting to misinformation and entire lies to attempt to skew voters who don’t check their facts. This was seen throughout their debate.
For instance, during the debate, Donald Trump stated that immigrants were “eating the pets of people who lived there” when referring to the immigration in Springfield, Ohio. However, when you look into the facts, there have been zero records of this happening in Springfield. Furthermore, Trump later called Kamala Harris a communist, which is completely untrue, as none of her proposed policies have ever reflected communism. This shows how desperate political actors can be in gaining even a meager number of votes, considering what they will lie about and how far they will go to discredit their competitors, and misinform the masses just to come out on top.
This behavior is not only spotted on the Republican side, though, with Kamala Harris being reported to lie to the public too. For instance, she stated that the cost of global corruption is as much as 5% of the world’s GDP, when in reality, according to the global anti corruption blog, not much research has been done to be able to comfortably say that number as a fact. Furthermore, she attempted to discredit Donald Trump’s proposal of nationwide tariffs on imported goods by stating that it would increase the cost of living for middle class families by almost $4,000 a year. In reality, economists from USA Today predict that it would only cost the average middle class family approximately $2,600 a year, which is about 1.5x less than what she claimed would happen.
The lack of credibility in both of their speeches, for an individual who has the opportunity to be the President of the most influential country on the globe, is completely and utterly appalling. As a voter, you should have the right to be able to trust in what politicians say about both their policies and about their competitors’ policies. However that is no longer possible in today’s world. The rise of disinformation has made fact checking “a vital tool” for staying informed, says Alexandre Bovet, a Digital Society Initiative at the University of Zurich (citation). Misinformation can be found in other organised, political ventures, too. For instance, in January of 2024, hundreds of residents of New Hampshire received automated calls of an AI generated voice of Joe Biden urging them not to vote in the primary election. It is unknown who was responsible for this; however, attacks on the integrity of elections, such as this one, are detrimental to finding the truth on which candidate is a better fit for the President.
Overall, the rise of disinformation has been counterproductive to attaining the purest version possible of a representative democracy, like the one currently active in the United States. The increase in misinformation due to the technological advancements in deepfake technology and generative AI has swayed countless voters into believing that one candidate aligns better with their beliefs than the other, when in reality, the opposite is true. Because of this, fact checking has now become necessary to stay fully informed, and analysts implore people to do their research when it comes to what politicians say on the stage. In conclusion, misinformation is an issue that has been plaguing the political state of the United States more than usual in recent times, and fact checking is imperative before you make a decision on who to believe.
Works Cited
Lee, Medora. “Harris Says Trump Tariffs Will Cost Americans $4K/Year. Economists Are Skeptical.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 31 Aug. 2024, eu.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2024/08/30/trump-tariffs-tax-policy-inflation-economists/74958265007/.
“Facts Ignored: The Truth Is Flexible When Falsehoods Support Political Beliefs.” CU Boulder Today, 6 Mar. 2024, www.colorado.edu/today/2024/03/04/facts-ignored-truth-flexible-when-falsehoods-support-political-beliefs.
“Fake ‘Biden’ Robocall Tells New Hampshire Democrats to Stay Home | Reuters.” Reuters, 13 Dec. 2023, www.reuters.com/world/us/fake-biden-robo-call-tells-new-hampshire-voters-stay-home-2024-01-22/.
“Kamala Harris.” PolitiFact, Poynter Institute, www.politifact.com/personalities/kamala-harris/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
“Donald Trump.” PolitiFact, Poynter Institute, www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
Stephenson, Matthew, et al. “It’s Time to Abandon the ‘$2.6 Trillion/5% of Global GDP’ Corruption-Cost Estimate.” GAB | The Global Anticorruption Blog, 5 Jan. 2016, globalanticorruptionblog.com/2016/01/05/its-time-to-abandon-the-2-6-trillion5-of-global-gdp-corruption-cost-estimate/.