While Biden may have won, neither Trump nor his legacy will be quick to fade. This is one of the key takeaways from the 2020 US Election Analysis Report published by Bournemouth University (BU).
Published by BU’s Centre for Comparative Politics and Media Research, the report analyses the 2020 United States presidential election, and features 91 contributions from over 115 world leading academics.
Published just 11 days after the election, US Election Analysis 2020: Media, Voters and the Campaign captures immediate thoughts, reflections and early research insights on the 2020 US election from the cutting edge of media and politics research.
BU’s Associate Professor and one of the report’s editors Dr Dan Jackson said: “This election has exposed the fragility of liberal democracy in the U.S. As we went to press, the election outcome is disputed, the integrity of the voting process is being attacked, and truth and facts are drowning amidst waves of misinformation.
“Productive political discourse - whether between world leaders or everyday citizens - requires us to agree on certain facts. But facts have been under systematic attack for the past four years, and while Trump may leave the White House, he leaves a civic culture that is being poisoned by misinformation and disinformation.
“Our report highlights how (perhaps belatedly) both social media platforms such as Twitter and mainstream broadcast media have found ways to moderate Trump’s deliberate distortion of the truth.
“But our report also demonstrates how deeply ingrained conspiracy theories, misapprehensions and falsehoods are amongst U.S. voters and parts of their media system. These are trends that may well outlive Trump’s presidency and affect U.S. politics for years to come.”
The report is edited by BU's Associate Professor Dr Dan Jackson, Professor Einar Thorsen, and Professor Darren Lilleker along with Professor Danielle Sarver Coombs from Kent State University and Dr Filippo Trevisan from American University.
The short and accessible publication contains authoritative analysis of the campaign with each author including research findings or new theoretical insights. Contributions also bring a rich range of disciplinary influences, from political science to cultural studies, journalism studies to geography.
The report is broken down into seven sections covering subjects such as democracy in crisis, popular culture and public critique, social media and the candidates themselves.
This is the sixth election report published by BU within 11 days of the outcome of an election. Previous reports have covered the 2015, 2017 and 2019 UK General Elections, the 2016 US Election and the 2016 EU Referendum.
UK Election Analysis 2019: Media, Voters and the Campaign is available to read for free online and can be downloaded.
