In October and November of 2018, all you heard about was the midterm elections. Every social media feed was flooded with reminders to vote. Late night talk shows exhorted viewers to get to the polls. Even Borat came back to haunt our Republic on the eve of voting.
Midterm elections are again upon us, four years later. If you didn’t realize that or haven’t thought about the elections in a while, you aren’t alone: Google Trends shows that relative search interest in the 2018 midterms was about twice as high as it is now, in 2022.
(Google Trends, relative search interest for “Midterm election,” by year, January–November)
Four years ago, the left claimed that the 2018 midterms were going to be a “referendum” on Trump’s election. A fire was lit under every left-leaning institution, and America was chattering about the midterms months in advance. The result: the highest midterm voter turnout we’ve seen in a century.
Take a look at the mainstream media, and one gets the sense that the 2022 midterms are again top of mind in America. News outlets are covering elections as they always have. The airwaves are abuzz with punditry, just as they were in 2018. But Google Trends confirms that we just aren’t paying as much attention anymore. Why not?
Some might argue that President Trump was such an acute threat to democracy, or alternatively such an impotent buffoon, that it was inevitable the country would turn against him in full force when they got the chance to in 2018. But now, they’d tell you, Trump is out and ‘normalcy’ has returned to our country under President Biden. With depolarization has come a lack of voter zeal – hence, low interest in the midterms.
Many would accept this narrative, but I am incredulous. A closer look reveals how America has not ‘depolarized’ under Biden. In fact, poll respondents believe at equal rates by party that the very survival of our country is at stake at the ballot box this November. Nor have politics gone quiet: plenty of news currently commands public attention. Most Republicans are worried about inflation and the economy, while Democrats are focused for instance on gun violence, abortion, and climate change. Furthermore, one would expect our faltering economy to drive independent and undecided voters across partisan lines, motivating voters more than the economically rosier days of 2018.
So why isn’t voter interest reflected in search trends? I contend that it is because the left-wing institutions that hold the greatest sway – mainstream and legacy media, Big Tech, the entertainment industry, and social good–styled corporations – don’t want us to focus on the midterms.
The left has long obscured the public’s awareness of current events for political purposes. Liberals predominate in most mainstream newsrooms and use this position to accelerate witch hunts against the right. They also limit coverage unfavorable to Democrats. Left-wing tech companies follow their lead, promoting or silencing dissent often in collaboration with the FBI, DHS, and other unaccountable intelligence agencies.
Precisely how Big Tech is influencing the midterms is unclear – but I have no doubt it currently is doing so. Twitter, Meta, and YouTube possess a plethora of tools to curb undesirable right-of-center content. They strategically deploy hate speech rules, shadow bans, and demonetization; more recently they’ve embarked ‘anti-disinformation’ campaigns, mixed with spates of flagging, fact-checking, and appending disclaimers to posts. Whether social platforms muzzle right-wing voices in concerted efforts or by more subtle algorithmic methods, they have demonstrated the means and the motivation to determine who is heard, when, and how loudly.
And this November, the powers-that-be have good reason to keep quiet about the midterms. It’s well known that midterms typically result in reverses for the governing party. As usual, the “in” party is complacent in its power. And as a consequence, there is significantly higher midterms interest among Republicans than among Democrats. The informational establishment knows that this year Democrats are on the bad end of this cycle, so they are trying to keep elections out of mind, since low voter turnout favors their side.
Meanwhile, Biden’s government remains highly disfavored. His approval ratings are almost exactly as low as Trump’s were at this time in 2018 – in fact, they are slightly less favorable. This should come as no surprise to Republicans, who have been simmering for months about Biden’s handling of Afghanistan and Ukraine, the reeling economy and mammoth inflation rates, and the left’s radical social ideology.
The media organs that dominate America are securely aligned with the left. They know that the disaffection is real. They know how midterms usually go. And they know that if they talk too loudly about the 2022 midterms, or let the search algorithms reflect actual political currents, they may inadvertently increase the amplitude of the red wave that is fast approaching.
The above is an opinion contribution and reflects the author’s views alone.
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