Revista Mexicana de Opinión Pública

Polarization. A conceptual analysis

2024-10-16T13:02:44-05:00

This work analyzes the concept of political polarization, its historical evolution, and its relevance in the current democratic context. It proposes a definition of polarization as a partial equilibrium between polarizing supply and demand, where centrist actors struggle to attract those at the extremes while facing difficulties in maintaining their position. The research contrasts polarization with the concept of cleavage, arguing that they are conceptual opposites. It concludes that polarization is always detrimental to democratic stability, rejecting the notion of “acceptable” polarization.

Current Dilemmas of Political Communication. Disruptive Communication, Civic Culture and Populism

2025-01-06T15:36:52-06:00

Recent literature on Political Communication emphasizes the digitalization of all aspects of the social, institutional and technical infrastructure of public commu-nication, as well as the delegitimization of the old authorized flows of information that shaped public agendas, the deprofessionalization of journalism and the confrontation of democratic institutions by commercial interests, populist groups and disruptive external interventions. The article develops arguments on these issues and aims to illustrate the transformation of the object of study of Political Communication, the subversion of its normative and interpretive rationality, the complexity generated by digitalization and social networks and the cultural and institutional challenges for liberal democracies. An important aim is to highlight how the new hybrid media system, especially the digital infrastructure, produces a dissonant public sphere characterized by the implosion of dissenting voices and social disconnection, and in this emerging plurality of hybrid spaces -interpersonal and on social networks-, the expressions of a new performative civic culture are produced, characterized by visuality, transience, intimacy, playfulness, satire and affectivity. The disruptive potential of these new technological and cultural condi-tions favors the emergence of new cleavages and lines of conflict that accentuate the representation deficits of traditional political parties and successful populist leaderships and parties.

Old Trends in New Media: Partisan Bias and Superficiality in the Mexican Digital Press

2024-10-24T17:56:14-05:00

The advent of digital journalism led its early analysts to believe that its technological and economic potential could help overcome limitations in journalistic autonomy—a prominent issue in Mexico, a country with entrenched practices of clientelism, biased reporting, and officialdom. To explore the possibility of less politically biased performance and richer informational content, we conducted a comparative analysis between traditional and digital-native media, examining 281 digital news articles about the 2021 federal elections, published in 117 outlets. In addition to comparing the performance of both types of media, we correlated the level of corruption in the states where these outlets are based, as a proxy for clientelism, with their degree of bias. Our findings reveal that digital media, rather than mitigating these issues, intensifies the previously described traits and fails to provide substantive coverage that enriches voters with the information needed to fulfill their civic role.

The media transformation in Mexico, 2006-2024: information patterns, political discussion and fragmentation of the electorate

2024-12-06T15:31:35-06:00

Based on data from the national surveys of the CNEP (Comparative National Election Project) in Mexico, carried out after the presidential elections of 2006, 2012, 2018 and 2024, this article documents the change in the Mexican electorate’s media consumption patterns during campaign periods and analyzes how said change impacts the level of political knowledge, discussion on political matters and agreement with the media niche or environment that the different segments of the electorate usually follow. These three aspects represent ways to approach three traits of democratic citizenship that have to do with the latter’s level of information, deliberative practices and possible degrees of political polarization entrenched in information fragmentation. One of the central questions guiding this research is the following: How does the change in communication patterns affecting information, deliberation and political polarization levels? Chief among our key findings are unsurprising aspects like differences in the consumption of new and traditional media based on age and educational level, but also other results that reflect phenomena whose confirmation has been somewhat more elusive or less solid, like the existence of echo chambers among the Mexican electorate, mainly among the most extremist, partisan segments of the ideological political spectrum.Keywords: media consumption, social media, political knowledge, political discus-sion, echo chambers, Mexican elections.

A Backlash Against Gender Parity in Candidacies?

2024-11-08T16:52:12-06:00

In this study, we examine the relationship between the sexist attitudes of the Mexican electorate and their electoral behavior. Based on data from the 2021 and 2024 Mexican Election Study (ENEM), we found that voters with high levels of hostile sexism were less likely to participate in the gubernatorial elections of 2021 (Tlaxcala and Zacatecas), in which a majority of women candidates were on the ballot. Meanwhile, voters with high levels of benevolent sexism showed a lower probability of participating in the presidential election of 2024, in which two women candidates competed for the two main coalitions in Mexico. These results indicate that there can be a negative reaction among certain voters against the increasing political participation of women. This "backlash" is noted, on one hand, among those who express a preference for preserving male domination over women (hostile sexism) and those who prefer women to continue exercising traditional roles in society (benevolent sexism). Rather than voting for male candidates, their probability of participating in elections tends to decrease.

The regions of electoral participation: between political parties, alliances and coalitions

2025-01-13T17:53:18-06:00

Electoral alliances and their effects on votes have been marked by three dimensions for its conformation: the ideological one, the competitive one, and the counter-hegemonic one motivated as a counterweight for the party in government (Reynoso y Miño, 2017, p. 48). By this argument, the article’s goal consists in analyzing the different percentages in electoral participation for the position of President of the Republic in 2024. ¿How were the results of the electoral participation for the Republic’s Presidency in 2024? The method is based on a study comparing the candidacy’s backups and the total of the information by coalition, from the systems of geographical information. The result of this investigation exhibits the different realities in between the support to political parties and the support to coalitions.

It's an original work, because it shows a panoramic view of the different political positions for parties and for coalitions, pointing out positioning regions. The limit of the study is located in the unknown information of support to every political party because of the diversity in the combination of the vote. MORENA’S positioning it’s the main discovery, showing that electorally didn't need a coalition.

Presentation

2025-01-31T00:35:14-06:00