# data[].attributes.headline
What role do reason and emotion play in the formation of our political affinities or in our voting decisions?

# data[].attributes.subject
What role do reason and emotion play in the formation of our political affinities or in our voting decisions?

# data[].attributes.body
Both reason and emotion play important, but different roles in a persons voting decisions and political views. When using reason, a person would be subject to their own morality and opinions in their decision, since everyone has different views on what is best for them and their country; but using emotions would cause you to make your decisions based on your emotions or your sympathy towards certain political figures and the promises they make. Such as fear, especially financial fear, can push people to vote for those who promised them security rather than those who they actually believe in. Politicians can use this to their advantage, by targeting either your emotional or rational side, or both, in their speeches and campaigns.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
An example of a faulty statistic presented by the Georgia Health Department

# data[].attributes.headline
How might emotive language and faulty reasoning be used in politics to try to persuade and manipulate?

# data[].attributes.subject
How might emotive language and faulty reasoning be used in politics to try to persuade and manipulate?

# data[].attributes.body
- emotive language and faulty reasoning can be used anywhere (not just in politics) to persuade people to do many things
- many politicians use tactics such as emotional appeals like: personal appeal, social appeal, humour appeal, youth appeal, etc.
- a common emotional appeal used by politicians are giving citizens a sense of freedom and liberty if they vote for them - for example, when Donald Trump was campaigning for president a popular slogan he used was "Make America Great Again" - this is an emotional appeal as it encourages citizens to vote for him because he's suggesting that there are changes to be made in the US and that he will make the necessary changes
- faulty reasoning can also be used in politics to persuade and manipulate citizens because they usually blindly believe things that those in power say - many don't check whether what they are being told is accurate or not
- one major example of faulty reasoning is during this COVID-19 pandemic (faulty statistics) - there have been instances where countries have falsely depicted the number of cases in their area in order to give their citizens a sense of false reassurance (example above)

# data[].attributes.headline
What impact has social media had on how we acquire and share political knowledge?

# data[].attributes.subject
What impact has social media had on how we acquire and share political knowledge?

# data[].attributes.body
Acquiring knowledge on politics has had about a 45% worser impact on politics and only about 30% of a good impact. The use of the internet and other social media forms has made many people, people who are not as interested too aware of whats going on around them, making them a part of the political process. Theres a positive relationship, people who use the internet will say theres a positive impact and people who dont use social media would say that theres a negative or neglibigle imact based on their thinking. public opinion about the internet’s impact on politics is most negative in Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia. When asked about the impact of mobile phones, the internet and social media on various political behaviors and attitudes, people in these nations tend to express seemingly dual views

# data[].attributes.headline
To what extent can polls provide reliable knowledge and accurate predictions? 

# data[].attributes.subject
To what extent can polls provide reliable knowledge and accurate predictions? 

# data[].attributes.body
Polls are tools used to collect public votes during an election. In India, we have an election commission that handles procedural voting. Polls are set in every major locality in Indian cities during elections and citizens over the age of 18 are expected to go and cast their vote after showing their voter ID CARD. Once the vote has been cast, members of the election commission mark a black line on the voter's pointer finger, indicating that they have voted.

Even though, the election commission sets methodological voting process to ensure fair polls, election frauds, election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favoured candidate, depressing the vote share of rival candidates, or both. This reduces the accuracy of voting and could lead to corrupted political parties coming into force. For their own benefit rather than for the people.

During electoral voting, news media plays an important role in spreading knowledge. They are responsible for making predictions and sharing these with the public. Predictions if not accurate can influence the “’ herd mentality” of the public, resulting in the public voting for a party who's received the greatest number of votes at the time.  Further, if predictions are inaccurate, it may cause public and political furry leading to civil unrest.