No matter who’s the winner, mass media already lost

We’ve just witnessed the second Presidential elections in a row where mass media was way off in its reporting of voting intentions. Why is mass media so out of touch with reality?

At the time of writing these lines, the identity of the next President of the United States remains a mystery.

As the media coverage of election night unfurled, many probably felt an intense feeling of déjà-vu. It was 2016 all over again. Except it was Joe Biden instead of Hillary Clinton. For months, mass media have been clamoring that Joe Biden had a commanding lead on Trump (by over 10 points a few weeks prior to the election day) and some sources even hinted at a “blue wave”.

A headline from Fortune about Biden showing even better numbers than Obama’s landslide: “Biden polling lead is stronger than Obama’s 2008 landslide”.
Some were even talking about turning Texas blue. “Yes, Texas could go blue this year. Here’s what we know about Biden’s chances – and what we don’t” – a headline from Time.
“From a former disbeliever – Why Texas could go blue in 2020” – a headline from CNN.
“Here’s why Democrats suddenly feel confident they can turn Texas blue” – a headline from Forbes.

Then, on election night, Florida and Iowa went to Trump. Then, of course, Texas went to Trump because … have you ever been to Texas? Do these “journalists” know anything about it? Try going anywhere in Texas outside of Austin, Houston, or Dallas and tell us that these people will ever vote Democrat. They would vote Republican even if its candidate is a rock with sunglasses on.

Texas results at the time of writing this article. That doesn’t look blue.

The election votes map sums up the main point of this article: Mass media was out of touch with reality in 2016 and remains out of touch in 2020. There’s a “reality” as described by mass media (and its social media appendages) and then there’s the reality of real life.

The “reality” painted by mass media was that Trump had little to no support except for “Qanon cultists”, White Supremacists, and random rednecks. The reality in real life is very different.

It’s hard to know which dimension these people live in, but it only takes a small trip outside of urban areas to realize that most Trump supporters are not fringe, marginal fanatics. Believe it or not, most Trump voters are regular Americans who live regular American lives. They’re plumbers, accountants, farmers, stay-at-home wives, business owners, doctors, and cashiers. Many of them vote for Trump, not because they particularly like him, but because they perceive him as the lesser evil. Why aren’t these people ever represented in mass media?

Another unreported fact by mass media: Lots of minorities and immigrants actively support Trump. Whether we look at communities from Asia, the Middle East, and many parts of Europe (especially Eastern Europe), we can find some deep conservative leanings. And, despite what is portrayed by mass media, lots of Latinos are extremely conservative-minded and are actually enthusiastic Trump supporters. A great number of Latinos are devout Catholics and Evangelicals who actively reject a great number of progressive ideas. Furthermore, Latino immigrants who fled countries such as Cuba or Venezuela will always stay away from any candidate who bares the dreaded label of “socialist”.

While Trump was depicted as “anti-Latino” by mainstream media due to his views on illegal immigration, media neglects to report that a great number of Latinos are actually against illegal immigration. Believe it or not, they do not want the United States to turn into the country they fled.

The result: a whole lot of Latinos voted for Trump. Because of that, he won Florida and made Biden’s path to victory more difficult. And most polls did not predict that.

In fact, several polls actually used the word “landslide” while predicting a Biden victory. Evidently, the land did not slide at all. The land actually remained rather firmly in place. How come these “professional” pollsters and journalists did not see this tight race coming from miles away? Isn’t that their job? How come they were so wrong, again?

There have been talks about “shy Trump voters” who are underrepresented in polls. But it goes further than that. It’s less about being “shy” and more about distrusting mass media. Indeed, there’s a growing sense of disdain towards mass media in America. And the complete hysteria of the last few years did not help. So, when mass-media-affiliated pollsters contact Trump supporters to ask them about their voting intentions, they might not get a straight answer. Republicans know that there’s a stigma against Trump and they don’t want to suffer from it. The more paranoid ones probably fear that they’ll end up on some list. So they just don’t say that they will vote for Trump because there’s absolutely no rational benefit in admitting that fact to unknown people. This happened four years ago, and it happened in 2020.

In Conclusion

Once again, mass media proved that it was completely out of touch with reality – whether it was on purpose or not. If mass media hopes to gain back some relevancy and influence in the near future, it needs to reconnect with the real America and stop projecting its fantasies on the public.

For now, those who believe in democracy will want, above all, election results that are clear and legitimate. They will also want a peaceful transition or continuation of power. In a year that was characterized by extreme anormalcy, an election that does not end in absolute chaos would be a victory for all. Except for mass media.

yogaesoteric
November 28, 2020