Impacto de la desinformación en la desafección política de la ciudadanía en México

Abstract

This work focuses on an issue that has been pointed out as one of the main threats to societies nowadays, disinformation, with the aim of exploring its potential impact on citizen attitudes towards democratic processes. The study is inserted in a large body of literature that establishes that media use can influence a citizen's distancing from politics, giving rise to a problem known as political disaffection. During the 2021 midterms elections in Mexico, a representative online survey of the population of this country was conducted (N = 1,750). Results indicate that the perception of having been exposed to content with disinformation is related to higher levels of political disaffection (in its dimensions of political cynicism, political apathy and political skepticism). From the analysis it was also established that there is an indirect mediating effect of the perception of exposure to disinformation between the use of media (social and traditional) and political disaffection. The evidence of the negative impact of disinformation on democracy is discussed in terms of the spiral of political disaffection phenomenon.