Analyzing political stances on Twitter in the lead-up to the 2024 U.S. election

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ibrahim, Hazem, Khan, Farhan, Alabdouli, Hend, Almatrooshi, Maryam, Nguyen, Tran, Rahwan, Talal, Zaki, Yasir
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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_version_ 1866913596368224256
author Ibrahim, Hazem
Khan, Farhan
Alabdouli, Hend
Almatrooshi, Maryam
Nguyen, Tran
Rahwan, Talal
Zaki, Yasir
author_facet Ibrahim, Hazem
Khan, Farhan
Alabdouli, Hend
Almatrooshi, Maryam
Nguyen, Tran
Rahwan, Talal
Zaki, Yasir
contents Social media platforms play a pivotal role in shaping public opinion and amplifying political discourse, particularly during elections. However, the same dynamics that foster democratic engagement can also exacerbate polarization. To better understand these challenges, here, we investigate the ideological positioning of tweets related to the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. To this end, we analyze 1,235 tweets from key political figures and 63,322 replies, and classify ideological stances into Pro-Democrat, Anti-Republican, Pro-Republican, Anti-Democrat, and Neutral categories. Using a classification pipeline involving three large language models (LLMs)-GPT-4o, Gemini-Pro, and Claude-Opus-and validated by human annotators, we explore how ideological alignment varies between candidates and constituents. We find that Republican candidates author significantly more tweets in criticism of the Democratic party and its candidates than vice versa, but this relationship does not hold for replies to candidate tweets. Furthermore, we highlight shifts in public discourse observed during key political events. By shedding light on the ideological dynamics of online political interactions, these results provide insights for policymakers and platforms seeking to address polarization and foster healthier political dialogue.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_02712
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Analyzing political stances on Twitter in the lead-up to the 2024 U.S. election
Ibrahim, Hazem
Khan, Farhan
Alabdouli, Hend
Almatrooshi, Maryam
Nguyen, Tran
Rahwan, Talal
Zaki, Yasir
Social and Information Networks
Computers and Society
Social media platforms play a pivotal role in shaping public opinion and amplifying political discourse, particularly during elections. However, the same dynamics that foster democratic engagement can also exacerbate polarization. To better understand these challenges, here, we investigate the ideological positioning of tweets related to the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. To this end, we analyze 1,235 tweets from key political figures and 63,322 replies, and classify ideological stances into Pro-Democrat, Anti-Republican, Pro-Republican, Anti-Democrat, and Neutral categories. Using a classification pipeline involving three large language models (LLMs)-GPT-4o, Gemini-Pro, and Claude-Opus-and validated by human annotators, we explore how ideological alignment varies between candidates and constituents. We find that Republican candidates author significantly more tweets in criticism of the Democratic party and its candidates than vice versa, but this relationship does not hold for replies to candidate tweets. Furthermore, we highlight shifts in public discourse observed during key political events. By shedding light on the ideological dynamics of online political interactions, these results provide insights for policymakers and platforms seeking to address polarization and foster healthier political dialogue.
title Analyzing political stances on Twitter in the lead-up to the 2024 U.S. election
topic Social and Information Networks
Computers and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.02712