{"id":210764,"date":"2024-05-02T11:32:06","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T15:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/college-of-communication-and-media\/?p=210764"},"modified":"2024-05-02T11:32:06","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T15:32:06","slug":"montclair-social-media-study-negative-emotions-on-social-media-dominate-gen-z-presidential-election-discussion-as-voting-decisions-near","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/college-of-communication-and-media\/2024\/05\/02\/montclair-social-media-study-negative-emotions-on-social-media-dominate-gen-z-presidential-election-discussion-as-voting-decisions-near\/","title":{"rendered":"Montclair Social Media Study: Negative Emotions on Social Media Dominate Gen Z Presidential Election Discussion as Voting Decisions Near"},"content":{"rendered":"

*More than One Million Social Media Posts were Studied*<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A new study released May 2, 2024 by a team of faculty from the\u00a0Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0in the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University shows more than 75% of Gen Z have shared negative sentiment on social media surrounding the 2024 Presidential election, with emotions driven specifically by sadness (41%), disgust (27%), and anger (9%).<\/p>\n

The study was authored by Dr. Yi Luo, Dr. Jin-A Choi, and Dr. Bond Benton by combing more than one million social media conversations from or targeted at Gen-Z social media users starting February 1 through April 7, 2024. The team used search terms including \u201c2024 voting,\u201d \u201c2024 election,\u201d and \u201c2024 presidential election.\u201d The data were contributed by 58% male and 42% female X users. Notably, this period witnessed a staggering 36,000% increase of social conversations related to Gen-Z and the 2024 presidential election compared to the previous two months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of negativity from Gen Z was eye-opening\u201d said Dr. Jin-A Choi, Assistant Professor at Montclair and Director of Data Analytics for the Center for Strategic Communication. \u201cHowever, it would not be surprising to see the negativity increase over the summer as each party\u2019s nominations become official and as we draw closer to the Presidential election in November.\u201d<\/p>\n

The following Gen Z emotions were most prevalent in the study:<\/p>\n

Sadness (41%)<\/strong>. Feelings of helplessness and dejection dominated the negative sentiment from Gen Zs on social media, highlighted by sorrow over the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion rights, the momentum of Donald Trump\u2019s candidacy, current economic impact (e.g., surging food prices, rising inflation rates, etc.) of the Biden administration, and doubts about President Biden\u2019s mental wellness. Notably, a second strong wave of sadness emerged right after Biden\u2019s State of the Union speech on March 8.<\/p>\n

Disgust (27%)<\/strong>. Disgust, accounting for nearly one third of the emotions identified on social conversations, revealed Gen Z\u2019s feelings over a series of sociopolitical issues, including legal rights among the trans community, restricted abortion rights, classified document mismanagement by Presidents Biden and Trump, mental as well as physical wellness for Democratic and Republican\u2019s presidential candidates, and enforcement of border policies.<\/p>\n

Anger (9%).<\/strong> The outrage exhibited on social media appears to shift with the evolving Israel-Hamas war. Specifically, social media users vented strong fury against the Biden administration\u2019s support and funding violence in Rafah, explicitly calling it \u201ca genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staying Hopeful:<\/strong> A more promising and positive theme emerged as Gen Z social media users were urging others to ignore polling results and to instead focus on voting and to exercise that Constitutional right.<\/p>\n

Other Key Findings: <\/strong>Social conversations championing women\u2019s rights jumped 74% in the observation period, including a staggering 93% increase of social chats about humanitarian aid, food assistance, opening aid corridors, and women as well as girls\u2019 rights in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data show that Gen Z social media users are understandably emotional about a number of issues,\u201d said Dr. Luo. \u201cThere are many existing hot-button issues and undoubtedly new ones will emerge that will shape how Gen Z feels and acts surrounding this historic Presidential election.\u201d<\/p>\n

The full study, which can be found here<\/a>, is the sixteenth from the Center of Strategic Communication, which provides social media analytics tools and training for faculty and students for classroom learning and research projects.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

About the School of Communication and Media:<\/strong> The School of Communication and Media offers a range of dynamic programs in communication and media to a talented and diverse student population of over 1,800. Offering degrees in film and television, social media and public relations, advertising, journalism and digital media, sports communication, communication and media studies, animation and visual effects, and an MA devoted to strategic communication, the School prepares the next generation of communication and media practitioners and leaders. The School houses award-winning student programs that include WMSC Radio<\/a>,\u00a0The Montclarion<\/a> newspaper,\u00a0 Hawk Communications<\/a>\u00a0Agency, the\u00a0Red Hawk Sports Network<\/a>,\u00a0Hawk+<\/a>\u00a0OTT streaming platform, and\u00a0News Lab<\/a>, as well as the\u00a0Center for Cooperative Media<\/a>, which serves the public by working to grow and strengthen local journalism. Student projects and programs have recently received national recognition from PRSSA\u2019s Bateman Competition, an Edward R Murrow Award, several Marconi Award nominations, and a College Television Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.<\/p>\n

Media Contact<\/strong>: Keith Green, School of Communication and Media, 973-655-3701 or\u00a0greenk@montclair.edu<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

*More than One Million Social Media Posts were Studied* A new study released May 2, 2024 by a team of faculty from the\u00a0Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication\u00a0in the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University shows more than 75% of Gen Z have shared negative sentiment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":210767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-of-communication-and-media-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/college-of-communication-and-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/college-of-communication-and-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/college-of-communication-and-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/college-of-communication-and-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/college-of-communication-and-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/college-of-communication-and-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210766,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/college-of-communication-and-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210764\/revisions\/210766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/college-of-communication-and-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/college-of-communication-and-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/college-of-communication-and-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/college-of-communication-and-media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}