Position Paper 4: Wild Card

Where does the voting-age youth get their political information and how do they use it?

As a voting age youth, I was curious as to what my peers think about the representation of politics in modern media. For my wild card paper, I decided to scour the Southern Arkansas University campus in-search of the opinions of voting-age youth. A college campus is one of the most diverse places in any given area with people from all walks of life.

I met with five different students of various ages and backgrounds and asked them questions about the political landscape of the United States and modern media.

What is your primary resource for receiving news?

22, Male, Pacific Islander  - "I hate to say it... memes. That's how I learn things, I guess. Through meme apps or Instagram. It's where I get my political news, too.

21, Female, Caucasian - "Tik Tok. That's really where I get everything."

22, Female, Biracial - "My families crazy emails or Facebook posts. I spend a lot of time trying to debunk what they're saying and I find a lot of real news doing that. I also like Philip DeFranco."

20, Male, African-American - "Twitter. I keep up with anything that my peers my like and retweet, as well as a small assortment of politicians and activists."

20, Female, Caucasian - "I get mine through Google News notifications on my phone. I don't really follow any specific outlets.

Do you have any news apps or apps where you receive information regarding world events / politics?

22, Male, Pacific Islander - "No."

21, Female, Caucasian - "Twitter. That's it, I think."

22, Female, Biracial - "No, I don't think so. Nothing that would apply for this."

20, Male, African-American - "Twitter and Reddit."

20, Female, Caucasian - "I don't have any news apps or political apps."

Did you keep up with the results of the 2020 U.S. Election? If so, how?

22, Male, Pacific Islander - "To an extent. I followed through my peers while they discussed the election."

21, Female, Caucasian - "Yes. I followed through Twitter and my friends."

22, Female, Biracial - "Yeah. I found out through my family and the internet and general use of social media. All my friends were talking about it as well."

20, Male, African-American - "Yup, through Twitter and Reddit."

20, Female, Caucasian - "Yes I did. I used the poll tracker on Google."

Do you think it's important for you to keep up with political news?

22, Male, Pacific Islander - "I think it's important, but I don't go out to seek further knowledge from what I learn."

21, Female, Caucasian - "Yes."

22, Female, Biracial - "I think it's important to keep up with local news, sometimes more important than national news. We should be paying more attention to local news, final answer."

20, Male, African-American - "Yeah."

20, Female, Caucasian - "Yes, absolutely."

Do you feel informed by the resources you use for information, or do you need to seek more information from other sources?

22, Male, Pacific Islander - "If I think that I need more information or more reliable information, I'll seek it out."

21, Female, Caucasian - "I do, but on more important subjects or events I will look for more information."

22, Female, Biracial - "Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I learned about the Armenian situation from System of a Down."

20, Male, African-American - "I guess so, but I'm not afraid to do my own research."

20, Female, Caucasian - "Most of the time, I feel informed enough. If the wording is vague or appears biased, I'll do some more research."

Do you feel like the news you receive is biased in any way? How do you combat this?

22, Male, Pacific Islander - "Absolutely. I try to form my opinion by observing information from both sides of the spectrum."

21, Female, Caucasian - "Yeah, a bit. Everything tends to be a bit biased. I try to look at different news sources."

22, Female, Biracial - "Yup. I just try to look up different sources to get opinions from multiple people to find the truth."

20, Male, African-American - "Yes. I look at both sides to form an opinion."

20, Female, Caucasian - "Yes, I feel like it is biased. I look at multiple sources and try to find useful sites to fact check."

How often do you actually fact check?

22, Male, Pacific Islander - "Quite often."

21, Female, Caucasian - "I try to as often as possible but not as often as I should."

22, Female, Biracial - "I usually only fact check when I think the source could be wrong, like from a meme or Facebook post. Other than that, if I trust the source I probably won't look it up."

20, Male, African-American - "Pretty often."

20, Female, Caucasian - "I fact check when I don't trust the source or feel like some information could be incorrect or intentionally misleading."

Overall, how do you feel about the representation of politics in modern media?

22, Male, Pacific Islander - "I feel like the media thinks that politics are a joke. They use politics for ratings instead of what it should be about."

21, Female, Caucasian - "It's very biased. When I do hear about politics, usually something bad has happened. There's hardly anything good that comes out of the news about politics."

22, Female, Biracial - "I feel like a lot is misrepresented to make their affiliation look better. Overall, everyone could be more honest but it's not something we can fix until we stop giving money to big corporations that run these programs."

20, Male, African-American - "It's biased on both sides. It's all about who wants to favor who in whichever way."

20, Female, Caucasian - "It's all performative. Saying what people like to get them on their side to push another agenda behind the scenes."

What this paper lacks in links and interactivity, I find that it is full of information and data about the voting age youth on a college campus. I hope that this is insightful and useful.

This survey took place over the course of two days on the Southern Arkansas University campus. Sources for responses can be provided for the instructor by request and approval of the responders.