With the 2016 presidential election underway, opinions are becoming seemingly more important than the facts.
Teachers across the country tell students daily that it is important they use factual sources rather than opinions because opinions are not concrete. But if this is true, why is the solidity of facts becoming less substantial in today’s society, specifically in presidential elections?
Partisan loyalty is a leading factor that blinds voters from facts presented in campaigns. A voter’s loyalty to a party or a party’s candidate hinders the voter from seeing the truth of the negative actions his or her candidate may have committed. A voter is more likely to defend his or her candidate no matter what the candidate may have done. Loyal members of parties might even be aware of the extent of how bad a candidate’s actions are but they will choose to defend their candidate and criticize the opponent.
Opinions are subjective. The basis of a presidential race, ever since partisan became the largest factor of one, relies on the opinions of the voters. Whether a voter agrees with the “blue” or with the “red” or neither defines his or her candidate choice, in most circumstances. Candidates know appealing to the emotions of voters is the way to win races. Emotions are subjective; they define opinions.
Whether information about a candidate is true or not, whether Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 emails were innocent or not or whether Donald Trump pays taxes or not does not really matter. What matters is who sides with the opinions Clinton’s and Trump’s parties hold.
Social media also plays a major role in the importance of opinions. Social media is an outlet for the party members aforementioned to present their opinions. Honestly, how many Facebook posts are composed of facts and statistics? People spread their opinions online either shedding light to the view of facts or causing arguments over them but to the point of view, not the actual fact.
The whole purpose of the American democratic republic is that the citizens of the country have the freedom to express their opinions. That is the fact of it.
