Societal Majority, Facebook, and the Spiral of Silence in

the 2016 US Presidential Election

By Matthew J. Kushin, Masahiro Yamamoto, and Francis Dalisay

About:

The research deals with the situation of fear and isolation prevalent in the USA during the 2016
presidential elections. The study looks into the use of social media by both the candidates Hilary Clinton
and Donald Trump and opinion congruency between social media and willingness of people to express
support for a candidate face to face on social media platform.

Objective:

To parse opinion congruency in two forms- societal majority and reference groups on Facebook with their
people affiliate.

To predict how Fear of isolation negatively influences opinion expression not only in face-to-face settings
but also on social media where their affordances can increase the chance that one’s expressed opinions
will be noticed by other users.

To predict if there is association between the opinion congruency and willingness to express support for a
candidate to occur indirectly through fear of isolation.

Methodology:

The data used for the study was through a web survey of an online web panel comprising of participants
selected by Qualtrics. The total number of responses collected stood at 600. The median age derived from
the sample was 45-55 measured on a six-point scale ranging from 18-24.

Respondents in the survey were asked to support or oppose the presidential candidates on a 5-point scale
where 1 stood for strongly opposed, 5 stood for strongly support.

Further various statistical tools such as standard deviation, regression was used to analyse the data.

Findings:

According to the analysis performed in the research paper, opinion congruency in society for Hillary
Clinton was positively related to fear of isolation. The people who more clearly perceived their opinions
on Hillary, had low levels of fear of isolation. Whereas in case of Donald Trump, opinion congruency in
society was not related to fear of isolation. The research further went on to indicate that political interest
was negatively related to fear of isolation.
Internet and Political participation in China
By Qin Guo

About:

The research tries to understand the role of internet as a means for political participation in China. The
study tries to determine how the technology has improved political participation but also how this effort
has not come easy. The paper also dwells upon issues brought to fore for resolution through internet,
highlights inter-regional and intra-regional digital divide and lack of participation by majority of internet
users as well as the government regulations over the internet.

Objective:

Methodology:

The research makes use of secondary data for the purpose of analysing the effect of internet on increasing
political participation among the population. The data for research was published in the 24th statistical
report by China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC). The research also observed provincial
government website of 31 provinces of China and a questionnaire which was circulated in Jintang
township in 2008. The research also made use of quantitative approach to explore the role of internet in
improving the political participation.

Findings:

As per the researcher the development of internet displayed an encouraging outlook for development of
democracy in China. However, there were some uncertainties than still remain.

Firstly, the constant snooping by the Chinese government of the online platforms as a tool to keep public
opinion in check.

Secondly, the government’s effort to institutionalise the internet as a political platform. The inter-regional
and intra-regional disparities that are prevalent in has led to diminishing role for open and equal political
participation.