What makes someone think that the 2020 election was stolen? Part of it, obviously, is that a former president of the United States has insisted it was for more than a year. Part of it, too, is that his claims are elevated by a galaxy of people and organizations eager to siphon off some of the attention that he generates. And part of it is that accepting or tolerating Donald Trump’s assertions about voter fraud are increasingly part of what it means to be a Republican in the United States.
Last year, I spoke with Rachel Blum, a political scientist at the University of Oklahoma who described how issues become part of a partisan package.
“Ideology, and then parties as purveyors of ideology, serve this really important role as bundlers or packagers of issue positions,” Blum said. “And once somebody decides, either via one issue or via a candidate or whatnot, that the Republican Party is the party for them, they will then seek information that is from friendly sources, whoever they see that as, and they will be receptive to information that confirms these biases. They will also sample information that confirms these biases, and then will implicitly pick up on the rest of the packaging.”
In other words, speaking specifically about this fraud question, if the party is saying that this happened, members of the party would be expected to look for confirmation of the idea. And many have clearly found it in the coverage provided by Fox News.
Over the weekend, The Washington Post ...
Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe LLP advises Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) investors that the firm is investigating potential legal claims arising from alleged false and misleading statements about the co...