Research on Political Rumors' Influence on Undecided Voters

This assignment delves into the significant impact of political rumors on undecided voters during elections. It investigates how rumors, often originating from unverified sources and amplified by media, can manipulate public sentiment and influence voting decisions. The research employs various questions to analyze the effects of political hoaxes, media's role in spreading misinformation, the speed at which rumors spread, and the potential for these rumors to shift votes. The study uses the 2016 US presidential election as a case study to illustrate these dynamics. Furthermore, the assignment examines the correlation between research questions, the role of undecided voters, and the effectiveness of campaigns in mitigating the impact of political rumors. The research also reviews various methods to explore these issues, providing a comprehensive understanding of how political rumors shape election outcomes and voter behavior.

Running head: RESEARCH METHODS
Research Methods
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Research questions...........................................................................................................................3
Correlation of the research question................................................................................................5
Reviewing the research methods.....................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
It has been seen that some of the people are involved in sharing information that cannot
be trusted. Such stories originate from sources that lack authentication and is considered as
rumors. As commented by Allcott and Gentzkow (2017), word of mouth is of utmost
significance, as people tend to believe what they hear without judging. Rumors are heard
regarding topics that have a significant impact on the public that gets influenced by anxiety and
uncertainty. It can be said the political rumors differs from general hoax news or rumors.
Political rumors are spread with the aim of manipulating the feelings of the population thereby,
taking necessary advantages of the ongoing political scenario. Political rumors are considered a
bunch of statements and claims that lacks authenticity. However, according to McNair (2017),
the role of social media cannot be neglected in the case of spreading political rumors. This study
emphasizes on discussing the important issues in terms of the impact of the political rumors on
the undecided voters during the election. In addition to, this study will also analyze the situations
when the political rumors manipulate the votes of the voters. In order to address the issues, the
study has developed various tentative questions that aim towards answering the dilemmas for the
voters.
During the election, the undecided voters are considered as treasures because getting their
votes can help the political party to win the election. According mentioned by An, Quercia and
Crowcroft (2014), during elections, then the population of the undecided voters plays a crucial.
This is because the undecided voters have the ability to ensure a shift away from the votes from
one political party to another thereby, proving the pre calculations completely incorrect.
Henceforth, the study provides an opportunity to analyze the impact of political rumors on

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undecided voters during elections with the help of particular research questions. In accordance
with the topic, some relevant examples have been referred. The latest presidential election in the
United States of America has been referred to as an example of the topic. It has been seen that
the undecided voters have helped Donald Trump win the presidential election of the United
States unexpectedly. For instance, the rumor of the involvement of Russian government in the
election of USA surfaced. Donald Trump used the news as a rumor thereby, authenticating the
concept of nationalism. This rumor provided an opportunity for Donald Trump to take a lead
over Mrs. Clinton during the presidential election of the USA.
Research questions
RQ1 What is the impact of the political hoax on the undecided voters during poll?
This question will help in determining the shifts of votes during the poll process along
with understanding the impact of the political hoax on the voters those have not decided their
votes. The question will also help in understanding the significance of the undecided voters
during the election process and its capability of shifting votes from one party to another and
changing the overall result of the election.
RQ 1.1 Does media and news channel facilitate the spread of political rumors?
This question will help in identifying and understanding the different channels that can be
used for spreading the political rumors thereby, determining the significance of both electronic
and print media. The use of media is highly practiced to be connected with the entire world. This
question will also help in understanding the significance and effectiveness of media in spreading
a particular news or political hoax in this case.

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RQ 1.2 In a particular place, how fast political rumors affect the undecided voters during the
election?
This question will help in determining the rate of speed by which the political rumors
spread during the elections.
RQ 1.3 Is is permissible for a candidate from the election board talk about the political rumor in
the public?
This question will help in analyzing and understanding the significance of talking about
the political rumor in front of the public thereby, determining the impact on the undecided
voters.
RQ 1.4 Is it possible that the political rumors to shift the desired votes that are expected from a
particular election booth?
This question will help in identifying the impact of the political hoax thereby, resulting in
the unexpected shift of votes during the election process.
RQ 1.5 If the rumors are unattended or long, can this negative impact shift the votes from one
party to another?
This question is developed with the aim of understanding the impact of the political hoax if it is
left unattended for a longer period on the undecided voters.
RQ 2 Is it possible that the political hoax manipulates the decision of the undecided voters?
This question will help in determining the ability of the political rumors to manipulate the
undecided voters in terms of their decision.

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RQ 2.1 What can be the potential reason for the voters for being undecided in particular area?
This question helps in understanding the potential reasons for the undecided vote along
with understanding the confusion that leads to undecided voters in particular area.
RQ 2.2 How the political rumors can be handled properly?
This question will help in identifying and understanding the appropriate steps that need to be
undertaken for mitigating the political rumors effectively.
RQ 2.3 Is it possible for the undecided voters to be encouraged while promoting an agenda that
is uncertain in respect to the political hoax they are dealing with?
Convincing the voters is absolutely crucial during the election process. Thus, this
question will help in understanding if the undecided voters are easily convinced or encouraged
while promoting a particular agenda during the election process by the political hoax regarding
the political party and get affected by it.
RQ 2.4 How does the political hoax affect the overall process of election?
The overall election process is critical, as it deals with the entire population of the
country along with the opponent parties. It has been seen that the different political parties
participating in the election process spreads rumors against the opponents in order to get an
upper hand and gain votes. Thus, this question will help in understanding the impact of political
hoax on the ongoing process of election.
RQ 2.5 To what extent does the undecided voters have an impact or create a difference due to the
political hoax that is circulated over the media?

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Media is extremely crucial in today’s world. The majority of the population has wide
access to the media in terms of internet. Media provides an opportunity for population to keep
them updated in terms of election process. Thus, this question will help in understanding the
impact of the political hoax on the undecided voters that is spread through media that includes
both internet sources as well as print media.
Correlation of the research question
The aforementioned section highlighted the tentative research questions that have been
developed with the aim of developing a better understanding of the given scenario. In addition
to, each of the questions has been developed by maintaining a correlation with the previous
question thereby, ensuring clarity, justification and denying the facts that are mentioned. For
instance, RQ 1.2 and RQ 1.3 are correlated and both the questions are developed with the aim of
understanding the belief of the undecided voters in accordance with the political rumor. In
addition to, the question also aim towards understanding the use of political humor as a tool from
the perspective of the election. It has also been seen that RQ 1.5 aims towards discussing and
identifying a political hoax from the perspective of the political party. As a result, the impact of
the range of the voters will be decided along with the impact of the undecided voters.
On the other hand, RQ 2.1 highlights the potential reasons due to which the voters remain
undecided. As a result, it can be determined why simple political rumors have the ability to result
in undecided voters. In addition to, it can also be highlighted that undecided voters are the
unbiased set of voters that do not prefer to put their effort and energy in deciding their votes. RQ
2.3 aim towards identifying the factors related to the undecided voters thereby, authenticating the
views of the undecided voters. RQ 2.5 recognizes the most significant question of the topic and

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addresses the impact of the positive campaign in handling political hoax. It has been seen that
campaigns before the election are hardly effective in the society that has higher literacy rate but
the higher impact is noticed in the society with lower literacy rate and an undecided population
of voters.
Reviewing the research methods
In politics, the strength of the voters and the seat calculation is based on the voters. This
provides an opportunity for the nations to stabilize the democracies in spite of having varied and
diversified interest among the existing political parties. According to Ha et al. (2013), the
undecided voters are the main cause that results in the shift of votes during the particular election
scenario. Reports suggest that 13% undecided voters helped Donald Trump to win the
presidential election of the United States of America thereby, taking a lead and snatching the
victory from Mrs. Clinton. This has been considered as one of the best examples of the impact of
undecided voters on the election results. In the last presidential election, Donald Trump was
successful in getting the votes of four states and won the election from, Mrs. Clinton. This was
the impact of the political rumor on the undecided voters that was decided at the very last
moment (Berthet, Barthelemy and Kop 2015). This highlights that the political hoax can be used
as a tool for the undecided voters thereby, resulting in the shift of the voting decision. In the case
of this assignment, the research questions have been developed in such a way that it helps in
understanding the impact of political rumors during the election. It has been seen that political
rumors act as a complete game changer during the time of the election thereby, resulting in a
shift of the voters (Orriols and Martinez 2014). RQ 1.5 has been successful in understanding the
potential causes that result in the shift of the votes in respect to the undecided voters. As

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mentioned above, the positive campaigns fail to have a significant impact on the undecided
voters.

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References
Allcott, H. and Gentzkow, M., 2017. Social media and fake news in the 2016 election. Journal of
Economic Perspectives, 31(2), pp.211-36.
An, J., Quercia, D. and Crowcroft, J., 2014, October. Partisan sharing: facebook evidence and
societal consequences. In Proceedings of the second ACM conference on Online social
networks (pp. 13-24). ACM.
Berthet, V., Barthélémy, L. and Kop, J.L., 2015. When implicit fails: Explicit but not implicit
attitudes predict choices of decided and undecided voters. Revue Européenne De Psychologie
Appliquée/European Review Of Applied Psychology, 65(1), pp.1-7.
Ha, L.S., Wang, F., Fang, L., Yang, C., Hu, X., Yang, L., Yang, F., Xu, Y. and Morin, D., 2013.
Political efficacy and the use of local and national news media among undecided voters in a
swing state: A study of general population voters and first-time college student voters. Electronic
News, 7(4), pp.204-222.
McNair, B., 2017. An introduction to political communication. Taylor & Francis.
Orriols, L. and Martínez, Á., 2014. The role of the political context in voting
indecision. Electoral Studies, 35, pp.12-23.