Thanks and great post.

which turned out to be a disaster for him? He knows he's behind. That is why the campaign has literally bought polls.

What a shame people are still buying the notion this election is even "close."

As Charlie Warzel points out in a recent editorial in The Atlantic:

The passage you quote from the Atlantic illustrates why the growth of social media has served to make misinformation so much more effective and prevalent then the mere existence of right wing media. Social media algorithms do not merely serve up content that grabs attention, but the key is that they are the feedback loop you mention, because part of the algorithm is to send the user content that the user is likely to click. What is particularly insidious about this, is that there is no disclosure or warning that this is how the algorithm works. The recommendation rankings are not based on accuracy or reliability. Rather, your whole social media platform experience is an ongoing and self-reinforcing feedback loop.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/feb/06/social-media-algorithms-amplifying-misogynistic-content

The information bubble created by FOX News and far-right radio was bad enough. When our attention is the commodity targeted by social media algorithms, users can find themselves transported into a labyrinth of rabbit holes to evermore shocking and enraging racist, misogynistic and xenophobic dystopias that are increasingly disconnected from any semblance of reality. People in a social media rabbit hole often assume the content they see is being served up to everyone, creating the illusion they are participating in a "reality" that "everybody knows." And that illusion gives rise to the belief that anyone who doesn't "know" what they "know" must be crazy.

The Center for Humane Technology has a podcast, Your Undivided Attention. I don't listen regularly, but scan the subjects/guests and listen to those that peak my interest. They've got some great content.

and everyone will be on the edge of their seats watching.

...and Marcos's heavy use of social media, which does not have any journalistic standards, lead to his election.

In other words, the outdated assumption of your post that "the networks can present a close horse race," is that Americans still primarily rely on them for information and news, when the Pew report show that this is increasingly not the case. Thus, you can have a larger and larger segment of the electorate who are hermetically sealed from what the networks are broadcasting.

The reason is pretty obvious and pretty sinister. These fascists think they have it all mapped out what they are going to do on November 6.

That “news” and information would be reduced and dumbed down to sound bites and snippets, long before social media ever became reality….. leading to the demise of critical thinking

And sometimes they share my posts. That is then seen by others.

I also will provide info that supports or refutes what someone else has posted.

No doubt they want to pretend the race is close so then when election night happens and it isn't nearly as close as these "polls" show, then they can holler fraud and try to invalidate the election results.

It is pretty obvious what is happening here. No way in hell are most voters supporting an absolutely insane candidate whose Project 2025 backers openly call for fascism.