By: Julia Valencia

Editor-in-Chief

Since the founding of the United States, politicians have won votes by sharing their policies and plans for office. However, in recent years, growing political polarization has bred hostility, creating an unspoken competition of which supporters can show their spirit the most. As a result, people are increasingly seeing politicians as celebrities before they see them as public figures. This shift is especially evident on social media where their personalities and lives attract as much attention as their policies. Voters need to stop idolizing politicians and be wary of allowing their online personas to replace critical evaluation of their political qualifications and plans. 

Social media has changed the way political support is expresses—politicians are relying more on their internet outreach, an unproblematic tactic until voters get their information solely from their accounts. 

Platforms built around personality and constant interaction make political figures seem less distant and more personable. During the 2024 presidential election, both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris leaned heavily into their social media presence. Harris’s sound bites took over TikTok, with viral sounds like “you think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” and followers referring to her as “Momala,” the nickname her stepdaughters gave her. Similarly, Trump appeared on over 15 right-winged podcasts geared towards young male voters, with people like Joe Rogan and Logan Paul. Viral clips of the two candidates gave voters greater access to their personalities beyond their political platform. 

The trend has continued with a more recent example: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Throughout his mayoral campaign, he used short-form content to build his online presence, which supporters turned into memes and viral clips. This fan-like engagement showcases how political social media can begin to resemble an online fandom. The growing familiarity between candidate and voter can create a parasocial relationship, in which voters develop a one-sided sense of connection to the candidate. In a study published by Sage Journal, researchers found that the intensity of a citizen’s parasocial relationship with a candidate was the strongest predictor of political support. 

While using advertising tactics to reach voters is not inherently problematic, the social media approach can blur the line between political outreach and influencer culture, encouraging voters to focus on the candidate’s online personality first and their policies and qualifications second. A writer for Central Washington University summed it up well: “It is important to understand that politicians are not our friends. Politics will always be about having your own best interest in mind, and that goes for them too.” 

(Sources: Claremont McKenna, Sage Journals, The Observer)