Voter registration and voter turnout has been the continuous discussion across the nation as well as the state since early voting began Oct. 21.
Drew Landry, assistant professor of Government at South Plains College spoke on fear in campaigns and voter turnout in Texas as Election Day approaches on Tuesday.
Fearmongering, as defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, is trying to make someone afraid when it isn’t necessary or reasonable.
Landy said the use of fearmongering in elections isn’t new to American politics.
“In more recent presidential campaigns, it has been like the state of the world will fail if you elect so-and-so, the American democratic experience will fail if you elect yada yada,” Landry said. “That’s been around forever, in the modern era.”
However, he said it’s taken a different form in recent years.
“The problem with it in these last few elections is how heavy handed that it gets and how much people really believe in it,” Landry said.
The professor said there have been nasty elections since the 1800s. However, when the 2024 presidential candidates talk about each other, it’s not exactly in nice terms either, he said.
“So, these sorts of things have kind of turned a page in terms of, they’ve gotten a bit more nasty than what they have in the past,” Landry said.
Landry said the idea that fearmongering has gotten more partisan is not far off. However, he doesn’t think it’s a reflection on the voter.
There’s a debate in political science on where polarization begins, the professor said: whether it’s with the politicians or the voters. He said rather than it going bottom-up – from the people – it’s more top-down.
“It’s much more partisan from the candidates,” Landry said. “And the voters, at this point – finding an undecided voter is the crown jewel.”
Landry said a part of elections is not only getting a party to vote for a candidate, but trying to get independent, undecided people from the middle.
From an objective perspective, a lot of things can be painted as fearmongering on different sides, he said, and stressing an opponent’s stance to try to get people to vote can be a campaign strategy.
“And so what’s interesting here is, how are [undecided voters] using this sort of information from the campaigns to make their decision,” Landry said.
As for voters who have made their decision, fearmongering could be found in the perception of a candidate, he said.
“It’s kind of embedded in there, you have to give voters a reason to fire the incumbent or not keep someone around from the last administration,” Landry said. “And that’s part of the strategy.” There can also be a fine line when figuring out if campaigns are fearmongering and holding the other party responsible, he said.
As for social media, he said his idea is that it just amplifies those strong, partisan opinions.
“I’m part of this thought that argues that all that social media did and continues to do is give people who have always had thoughts a bigger megaphone,” Landry said.
A way to counteract fearmongering is doing research.
According to Pew Research Center, 81% of American adults are interested in finding election news on the Presidential elections, but not as many find it easy to find the information.
“Going to their campaign website – that’s a start, but you don’t want to constantly go there,” Landry said. “You want to find other sources for you.”
He said this includes other media, academic studies and websites like Gallup – a site where polling is done on political topics and what people care about.
But in order to research, people have to care and have the desire to do so. And he said research suggests voters don’t usually do that.
“That’s the nice way for me to put it, is to say that voters don’t usually do their homework,” Landry said. “Those who will show up either have their minds made up, either by partisan identification or have been affected in some other way by a policy and either want to continue that or want to get rid of it.”
As for Texas voter turnout, the state was among the lowest in the 2020 presidential election according to Statista.
The Texas Secretary of State reported that Hockley County specifically hit a record number of voters in the same election, but it was about 59% of those who registered.
The state allows in-person and by mail registration and is one state in the county that does not offer online registration, unless a license is being renewed, according to VoteTexas.
“And that’s part of the reason that we don’t have a lot of turnout,” Landry said, “is that it’s pretty difficult to register to vote, just by and large.”
He said it boils down to who knows and who has the desire to really do it.
Further voting information on voting for the Nov. 5 election is available on the Hockley County website and VoteTexas.gov.