Is it possible that there was extrinsic manipulation in…
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Is it possible that there was extrinsic manipulation in the 2026 Wisconsin democratic gubernatorial primary?
I'll start by saying that ive never studied political science so ultimately i don't know what im talking about and my theory is just an opinion of something that could've possibly happened, not saying i think it did or didn't.
I personally think there could have been social media manipulation leading up to the 2026 primary election with the intent of fracturing the Democratic Party. In the democratic primary, there were 2 candidates that were both very likely to win the election, moderate democrat David Crowley, and Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong. I think social media companies could have manipulated their algorithms to push campaign ads and content advocating for Hong and against Crowley to people who were deemed more likely to vote for Hong, and vice versa.
Progressives tend to be younger and moderates tend to be older, so social media companies could track trends among younger people and push media supporting a progressive candidate, and track trends among older people and push media supporting a moderate candidate. Im a younger guy and I've gotten a ton of campaign ads from Francesca Hong and content either advocating for her policies or against Crowley's policies, causing me to have a certain disregard for a democratic candidate that I've never had before, and I think the same happened to older people too. Many progressives are calling Crowley's policies stagnant and unhelpful, and many moderates are calling Hong's policies communist and anti-American.
I think this divide was intentionally exacerbated by social media companies to make either side less likely to vote for the other candidate if they won, like since Crowley won, many people who voted Hong probably aren't going to vote for Crowley. And this was done to basically ensure Tom Tiffany, the Republican candidate, would win. More registered democrats showed up for the primary than registered republicans, but if there is infighting amongst Democrats, then less democrats are likely to show up for the actual election in November.
And the CEOs of social media companies would benefit from this. The most popular social media sites are all owned by right wing billionaires who endorse republican politicians and greatly benefit from republican policies, and Wisconsin is a crucial swing state, something made obvious in the 2024 presidential election. If social media companies manipulated who saw what media and created a divide among the Democratic Party in Wisconsin, they would essentially be able to "gain control" over a swing state.
This might be a bit of a rambling post, so I will try to highlight the main points for why I think this either could or couldn't have happened as sort of a TLDR.
**Why I think there could've been media manipulation**:
\- Many younger progressives such as myself have only seen content advocating for Francesca Hong and against David Crowley, particularly highlighting core polities of his that oppose the core policies of Hong.
\- Wisconsin is a swing state despite the fact that there were almost 200,000 more total democrat votes than republican votes.
\- The divide between Crowley and Hing is almost exactly 50/50, hong lost by only around 4000 votes
\- Billionaires would benefit greatly from a republican controlled swing state
\- Corruption is extremely prevalent amongst the government, particularly the Trump administration, so subtle election tampering seems possible
**Reasons why I think there couldn't have been media manipulation:**
\- I haven't really seen anybody talk about this, so it's not likely to have happened.
\- If found out, it would be extremely detrimental to the companies I think could have participated in the manipulation, all for a swing state.
\- Occam's Razor. It is entirely possible that the divide was caused naturally by political polarization between younger progressives and older moderates, similar to the polarization between democrats and republicans
This is my theory for what could have happened during the primaries, but I would like to know the thoughts of someone who is more politically educated than I am and is knowledgeable about the Wisconsin primary. Is this something that is likely to have happened, or is it more likely that the divide happened naturally as a result of younger people becoming more progressive and older people staying more moderate?
#politics
source
I'll start by saying that ive never studied political science so ultimately i don't know what im talking about and my theory is just an opinion of something that could've possibly happened, not saying i think it did or didn't.
I personally think there could have been social media manipulation leading up to the 2026 primary election with the intent of fracturing the Democratic Party. In the democratic primary, there were 2 candidates that were both very likely to win the election, moderate democrat David Crowley, and Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong. I think social media companies could have manipulated their algorithms to push campaign ads and content advocating for Hong and against Crowley to people who were deemed more likely to vote for Hong, and vice versa.
Progressives tend to be younger and moderates tend to be older, so social media companies could track trends among younger people and push media supporting a progressive candidate, and track trends among older people and push media supporting a moderate candidate. Im a younger guy and I've gotten a ton of campaign ads from Francesca Hong and content either advocating for her policies or against Crowley's policies, causing me to have a certain disregard for a democratic candidate that I've never had before, and I think the same happened to older people too. Many progressives are calling Crowley's policies stagnant and unhelpful, and many moderates are calling Hong's policies communist and anti-American.
I think this divide was intentionally exacerbated by social media companies to make either side less likely to vote for the other candidate if they won, like since Crowley won, many people who voted Hong probably aren't going to vote for Crowley. And this was done to basically ensure Tom Tiffany, the Republican candidate, would win. More registered democrats showed up for the primary than registered republicans, but if there is infighting amongst Democrats, then less democrats are likely to show up for the actual election in November.
And the CEOs of social media companies would benefit from this. The most popular social media sites are all owned by right wing billionaires who endorse republican politicians and greatly benefit from republican policies, and Wisconsin is a crucial swing state, something made obvious in the 2024 presidential election. If social media companies manipulated who saw what media and created a divide among the Democratic Party in Wisconsin, they would essentially be able to "gain control" over a swing state.
This might be a bit of a rambling post, so I will try to highlight the main points for why I think this either could or couldn't have happened as sort of a TLDR.
**Why I think there could've been media manipulation**:
\- Many younger progressives such as myself have only seen content advocating for Francesca Hong and against David Crowley, particularly highlighting core polities of his that oppose the core policies of Hong.
\- Wisconsin is a swing state despite the fact that there were almost 200,000 more total democrat votes than republican votes.
\- The divide between Crowley and Hing is almost exactly 50/50, hong lost by only around 4000 votes
\- Billionaires would benefit greatly from a republican controlled swing state
\- Corruption is extremely prevalent amongst the government, particularly the Trump administration, so subtle election tampering seems possible
**Reasons why I think there couldn't have been media manipulation:**
\- I haven't really seen anybody talk about this, so it's not likely to have happened.
\- If found out, it would be extremely detrimental to the companies I think could have participated in the manipulation, all for a swing state.
\- Occam's Razor. It is entirely possible that the divide was caused naturally by political polarization between younger progressives and older moderates, similar to the polarization between democrats and republicans
This is my theory for what could have happened during the primaries, but I would like to know the thoughts of someone who is more politically educated than I am and is knowledgeable about the Wisconsin primary. Is this something that is likely to have happened, or is it more likely that the divide happened naturally as a result of younger people becoming more progressive and older people staying more moderate?
#politics
source
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