Hear Me Out: You Shouldn’t Follow Presidential Candidates on Social Media

As a Democrat myself, parsing through news sources, articles, and social media, makes picking a candidate a major headache. With the clear polarization even within political parties, group-thinking is a reality I am seriously worried about.

How do you combat the temptation to just “go with the flow” with other Dems on the internet? Social media can make it so easy. Thinking for yourself, though, within your own education and experience, is important when choosing a leader. We’re kidding ourselves if we think social media doesn’t play a huge role in that, which is why I make the decision to not follow presidential candidates on social media.

I know what you’re thinking…is it really that deep, though? And the answer is, it can be, at least to me. It is entirely too easy to get lost in the buzz of social media on a daily basis, and once you add politics into the mix, I think it can complicate the decision-making process.  

1. You could narrow your sources of information

The glaring problem with following presidential candidates on Twitter, for example, is if you already choose to follow just one candidate. If I follow one candidate only, I’m almost choosing who I will support prematurely. Clearly, the candidate will only push poll results that support their candidacy, or they will only post their own speeches, or they can even succumb to “trashing” the competition (whether tamely or extremely). There’s a chance I will become biased toward the one candidate I follow since that’s the one I’m sending likes to and reading up on in comparison to the others.  

So why not just follow all the candidates at the same time? Well, that can pose another potential problem. Following all the candidates can not only make the social media landscape confusing, but all the candidates’ social media profiles could mislead your impression of candidates as well. When Candidate X tweets about income disparities among Latinx communities, and you don’t immediately see Candidate Y tweet about the same thing—does that mean Y just doesn’t care? Well you know X does, and that is one of the core issues you’re fighting for, so you should be rooting for X. Right?

Social media is made to garner support; it’s a powerful tool. Candidates use it to control the narrative when traditional new platforms are out of their control. But it’s also just a snapshot of each candidate’s platform. You shouldn’t rely on social media alone to get a feel for what each candidate stands for. The problem is that social media really tempts you to do just that: to be complacent with what you’re already getting on TL instead of doing that independent research to really understand a candidate’s stance on certain issues.

2. If you’re undecided, following (and promoting) candidates can feel dirty

Believe me, I want to be someone who can shout loud and proud who I support without holding back. Right now, though, I’m still unsure of who I support. There’s still so much I’m learning and even waiting to learn before making a bold statement of my support for a candidate.  

I used to be a political organizer for a former candidate in the presidential race, Senator Kamala Harris. While I’m so grateful for the chance to learn how to organize and coalesce, my feelings toward Kamala’s candidacy changed throughout her campaign. As news about her surfaced, I became confused about whether I could support some aspects of her political past. I tried to keep up with social media and push her campaign as any organizer would, but guilt and confusion made it very hard for me. Though I was still very much undecided, I felt that social media pressured me into keeping up my “Kamala 2021” persona. I distanced myself from supporting her just weeks prior to her dropping from the race. Now I have to focus my attention to another candidate, but I now know how to go about it in the future.

3. You risk political exposure to peers who may not like your choices

Exposing your political affiliations can sometimes subject you to harsh judgment from other users, which is never fun. Some people are fine with showing who they follow, some oppose it and some frankly don’t care. Some follow candidates for unrelated reasons (drama, curiosity, etc.) Whatever reason there is to follow a candidate, again, that following is public (unless your account is private).

I surround myself with like-minded individuals on my social media pages and most people do the same. That, however, might not be the case for some. Anytime you’re public with anything there will always be a risk of backlash, so it’s understandable if you feel safest avoiding that confrontation. You don’t owe any candidate or party “social media promo” if you’re not comfortable with it. Remember it’s your vote that will matter, so educate yourself and support people quietly if you feel your best doing that. If you feel strongly about a candidate, want to rally as much support for them as possible and are prepared for some possible backlash, then promote them wholeheartedly! Garnering votes requires this process, but only do it when you feel right doing it.

4. You can mislead yourself into thinking the race is going in your candidate’s favor

Again, whoever you follow, they will advertise their wins as much as possible. So following them means subjecting yourself not only toward staying in their lane, but also possibly fooling yourself into thinking your candidate is doing the best in the race (when that may not be the case). Even if you follow other news media to get information on your candidate, that constant stream of positivity from your timeline and feeds can still sway you into thinking your candidate has got it in the bag.

In a study on the 2016 presidential election, researchers found that both Trump and Clinton supporters had an “exaggerated” perceived likelihood of their candidate winning simply from their religious devotion to their opponent’s social media profiles. Twitter was a fire pit of clashing realities between voters, from believing Trump could never win the presidency to the same being said about Clinton. Whatever the outcome would’ve been, voters were blinded by their social media dependence and therefore blindsided by the actual election results. I’d rather avoid that as much as I can and be realistic. Running theme here is: don’t rely on social media. 

5. Candidates control the narrative and that can be both a good and bad thing

The soundbite nature of Twitter harbors a lot of flaws when it comes to political discourse. Candidates can control perception just from a tweet of them clapping back to an opposing candidate or party member. Then when they get criticized on other platforms, candidates can take back the narrative using their profiles.

For that reason, I understand why you’d follow candidates on social media. You can hear their side of the story and judge for yourself whether you accept their point-of-view or deny it. However, candidates do get to hide behind their profiles —Tweets and Facebook posts are much more detached than seeing the candidate speak live on a stage. If you follow them and don’t tune into the live debates, how does that affect your perception of them? Candidates continuously tweet, reply to maybe one or two responses that clearly support their agenda, and then log off. They can control their interactions, making it easier on them since they don’t feel obligated to reply to criticisms. A certain leader in the White House is a perfect example of that. The profile isn’t enough for me to go on when it comes to getting to know a candidate’s agenda.

So essentially, I don’t follow candidates because I know my own weaknesses as a voter. I can be lazy and I will be prone to relying solely on social media for my information. Knowing that, I go to their respective profiles when I feel necessary and treat it as another avenue of research, instead of a passive acceptance of their talking points. If you can follow all the candidates and be responsible enough to do your own research across different news sources and get to know issues on your own terms (not just in how the candidates phrase them), then that is the best thing you can do for yourself in choosing the best leader. In many ways, we are privileged in having a college education, internet access, and the English fluency and literacy to really make an educated voting decision. Don’t make the mistake of neglecting your resources and relying solely on social media — use everything to your advantage and make an informed vote.

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