Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudet proposed the “two step flow theory” in their book “The People’ Choice”: Idea often flow from radio and print to the opinion leaders and from them to the less active sections of the population. The 2016 U.S. Election is a classic example of this theory in action. Back then, social media hadn’t fully dominated political communication, but the opinion leaders are already become the key for election promoting. Wether the information supports Trump or Clinton, it reached voters through this “two step chain”.
Many voters do not get news about candidates from official campaign manifestos or live rallies. Instead, they turned to two types of opinion leaders, such as political bloggers on Twitter who may have over a million followers and local community figures，which has a significant impact in especially rural area, religious communities and minority ethnic communities. For example, some bloggers analysed the details about those plans from Trump’s team or Clinton’s team, in order to let the public know what changes will happen in their live.
These opinion leaders have a huge impact on ordinary voters. Pew Research Center’s survey after the election found that 35% of swing-states voters said that they make their decision of voting after hearing opinions from political bloggers or local communities leaders. CNN also reported that during the final month of campaign, imformations from these opinion leaders got more than 2x shares than official candidate promotions on Facebook.
This shows the Two Step Flow theory is not just an old idea, it explains how normal people engage with political information. These opinion leaders acts like the translators, and turn those complex campaign information into somethings related to people’s real life.
Reference
[1]Lazarsfeld, P. F., Berelson, B., & Gaudet, H. (1944). The People’s Choice
[2]Pew Research Center. (2017, January). Voter Information Sources in the 2016 U.S. Election
[3]CNN. (2016, November). Social Media Engagement During the 2016 Presidential Campaign Final Month
