118 -- Confirmation Biases Relationship to Social Media and Public Opinion; is There Hope for American Democracy?

Our political world has intersected with multiple dimensions of each individual's life as our country becomes more partisan. Confirmation bias explains that people desire to seek, perceive, prioritize, and remember information that validates or reinforces one's prior attitudes or beliefs, which is the foundation of the growing partisanship. Social media has made an increased appearance in the political realm, and as public opinion has become heavily divided, confirmation biases are only strengthened. My research is intended to probe deeper into this idea to better understand the relationship between confirmation bias, public opinion, and social media and how this relationship impacts our political world and our democracy as a whole. Suppose people continue to search for specific answers to reinforce their personal beliefs. In that case, public opinions grow steadily negative, and social media is a platform for partisanship and hatred to flourish what hope is there for American democracy.