Education and Interest in Politics

In the survey conducted by La Tonique Media, we found that, since the pandemic began, interest in politics has either increased or stayed the same. Among people that have increased their interest in politics, the majority reached a secondary education level (42.4%), followed by those that currently attend or reached a bachelor’s degree (35.6%). Among people with a master’s degree, 68.5% have the same interest in politics as before.

The idea that education may have an impact on interest or participation in politics is widely held in political behavior research. Mikael Persson, a researcher on public opinion and political behavior at the University of Gothenburg, shows interesting findings in his work “Does education cause participation in politics?” Moving beyond the idea of education as a direct and causal variable for interest and participation in politics, he suggests treating education not as a simple and individual cause. He rather emphasizes the interaction between individual and aggregate levels of education and the role of social networks. His research fits perfectly with the period we are living in. Just think about the amount of time spent on social media. The Digital 2020 Report found that social media users have grown by more than 10% over the past years. The global total of users reached more than 4 billion by the start of October 2020. Some platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok, have seen their audience grow. These sites often double up as platforms of information and misinformation and have had a leading role in both during COVID-19. For example, in March and April, a spokesperson for Facebook declared that Facebook placed warning labels on almost 90 million pieces of content related to the pandemic.

Considering both the level of education and use of social media as a way to be informed of government responses to the pandemic, latest news on politics, daily data on COVID-19 and more, La Tonique’s survey shows us that 34.0% of our respondents have increased their interest in politics, whereas 58.2 % reported it stayed the same.