Political Bias on Instagram: Generation Z and the 2022 Midterm Elections

Abstract

Generation Z, today's 10 to 25-year-olds, is emerging into the political sphere. In fact, the outcome of the 2022 United States Midterm Elections was heavily influenced by the power of progressive young voters. With the increased use of social media in recent years, many young activists have adopted online platforms as spaces for political conversation. This study investigates the influence social media activism, specifically from Generation Z creators, had on the outcome of the 2022 United States midterm elections. The study adopts a content analysis approach to analyze a selected amount of Generation Z Instagram posts from the midterms. The goal of the study is to determine the political bias Generation Z expressed online at this time and the effect social media activism had on the outcome of the election. The analysis includes 177 carefully selected posts, and each post was evaluated for its popularity, public response, and political bias. We found a slight progressive political bias within the post content and an unexpected amount of popularity and public response for conservative-leaning posts. The findings from this study suggest a developing progressive political bias among Generation Z. Further research on the connection between social media activism and election results is suggested.