The new age of digital media has transformed the political world, changing not only how candidates are communicating with voters, but how political messaging is shaped. Politics have evolved alongside society, moving away from direct messaging and imagery and fitting into social media posts, campaign events and emotionally driven language that can shift public perception.
Political campaigning goes beyond just rallies and debates. During election season, candidates frequently attend local events, from festivals and parades to networking events. While these appearances may seem informal, they serve a strategic role in campaigning: increasing a candidate’s visibility among voters and placing them in a positive light alongside their community.
Incumbents naturally receive more coverage and public attention because they already hold office. Their exposure reinforces public recognition, even when their appearances are not related to campaigns. This is known as the incumbency bias.
“Between elections, the media are more focused on detecting and attributing responsibility for societal problems, which makes critical coverage of incumbents a dominant feature of political news,” said political scientists Christoffer Green-Pedersen, Peter B. Mortensen and Gunnar Thesen.
While this increased media coverage leads to greater name recognition, it can have just as much of a negative effect. As political issues arise, opposing candidates become more newsworthy, causing a decline in bias. Voters turn to incumbents for comment on controversies, which can easily lead to negative association.
“Incumbents’ media prominence is inextricably linked to bad news and the burden of being held responsible for all kinds of societal problems,” Green-Pederson, Mortensen and Thesen said. “According to the above argument, media coverage is an important liability of policy responsibility. Consequently, the more that incumbents appear in the media, the worse they should perform in opinion polls.”
Candidates outside of the elected office must create their own opportunities to remain visible. Campaign appearances, social media and community events all build name recognition and solidify a public image.
“When candidates are campaigning and they’re posting on social media, and they’re reaching out to email lists, a lot of times they’re not necessarily just trying to win over potential voters. Instead, they’re trying to build out a network of campaign donations,” said Peter McLaughlin, Assistant Professor of political science at URI.
Governor Dan McKee consistently attends community celebrations and local events throughout the state while other candidates, such as Helena Foulkes and David Morales, regularly attend neighborhood festivals, local fundraisers and public forums to increase their visibility. These appearances rely on public visibility as a subtle form of political communication, placing candidates in the minds of voters and painting them in a positive light.
The effects of social media have now become critical to the function of the political world. With everything available at the tap of a button, more and more people are getting their news from online content rather than trusted news sources, making misinformation more and more common and harder to spot.
“It’s completely changed the format of political communication, particularly around campaigns,” McLaughlin said.
But its effects are not all negative. Political candidates now have new ways to communicate directly with voters, especially younger generations who are more present on apps such as Instagram, Tik Tok and Facebook. Unlike traditional campaign ads, these apps allow for more informal behavior, displaying behind-the-scenes footage, family moments, short emotional videos, and utilizing trending audios. Rather than appearing as another political campaign, these posts often resemble everyday content that users already consume.
“We’ve moved from a system of gatekeepers, which could be political parties or the media that separated candidates from people and voters,” McLaughlin said. “We’re now in a system of direct communication at all times between candidates and politicians and voters.”
As a result, social media has transformed political campaigning by making it feel less like a campaign. Candidates are no longer scripted television ads or newspaper interviews. Now, they are able to sculpt their own identity as they present an image that is more authentic and genuine. This shift has allowed candidates to create a stronger connection with voters, but has also blurred the lines between journalism and political messaging. The ability to produce their own content, control their own messaging and publish their work instantly has created less of a reliance on journalists for coverage.
Election officials have increased efforts to provide voters with reliable information. “The Department of State publishes many guides and infographics, social media posts and videos, and press releases to share official elections information,” Faith Chybowski, Secretary of State Director of Communications, said. “We are part of an effort with the National Association of Secretaries of State to share #TrustedInfo2026 from official election sources.”
These efforts aim to give voters access to the most up-to-date, trustworthy information as misinformation continues to spread across multiple platforms. But as social media becomes increasingly involved in politics, the responsibility of finding accurate information falls on the platforms and organizations who shape what the public sees. With more and more voters turning to social media for news, the way these platforms handle political content will continue to influence how Americans view candidates, campaigns and issues surrounding elections.