As the election nears with more momentum and anticipation than ever, politicians on all levels—local, state, and federal—are displaying their dishonesty and disingenuousness in attempts to sweep more votes and slander their opponents.
In a time plagued with an increase of exposed disingenuousness in politics, voters are now grappling with the upcoming election. The question of politicians’ integrity is a question now more than ever, as politicians appear to prioritize appealing rhetoric over honesty. A vast majority of voters desire honesty and morality in their politicians.
But what is political disingenuousness? Politicians may lie, stretch the truth, or deceive voters by making a claim which is not entirely true. There are myriad reasons as to why politicians feel the need to lie, but most notably, it is to draw people in. The more people they can appeal to, the better.
Some voters are now casting their ballot based on who is least disingenuous.
“I’ll try to vote for the one who’s less disingenuous,” said Carlmont senior Alyssa Belov.
Politicians are notorious for being dishonest, but how that affects the people is damaging to the politicians and voters.
When voting, some find themselves opting away from the less ideal candidate instead of choosing one based on their more positive qualities.
“I may not vote for one person specifically, but vote against the other person,” said Marissa Squires, a 19-year-old voter residing in Naperville, Illinois.
However, with the ever-increasing use of social media, the internet, and other factors, it is easier for falsities to be called out. For instance, in the 2016 debate, the most Tweets ever during a single time were tweeted during or centering around the debate. Now more than ever, voters are able to quickly call out discrepancies to a large audience at a fast rate.
As one repeat voter states, it is more difficult to get away with lying.
“I think politicians can no longer get away with lies without people figuring it out, but they still tend to lie anyway,” said Vivian Frazita, an American voter for multiple past elections.
Politicians, on all levels, are well known to morph their beliefs in order to achieve more voters. Whether it is on the local, state, or federal level, politicians will lie. However, in instances where the press fails to call out dishonesty, statements get accepted.
“I think a lot of politicians, especially if you’re not running for president, most of these races are not that closely covered. The press is not running stories calling people out on different lies, and so it’s kind of easy to be able to say what other people want to hear and not face the consequences of it. We kind of have a system where it almost incentivizes politicians to lie because they recognize that the risk is worth the reward,” said the Mayor of Palo Alto, Greer Stone. “Politicians who may be in front of one audience who they feel wants to hear one thing will say something to win over their votes. If they have another event with people who want to hear the opposite, they can change their message.”
While politicians may remain disingenuous, some voters hope for candidates worthy of high-power positions.
“I would like our candidates running for the top offices to be respectable and have strong morals and values so that when you’re voting for someone, you feel proud that they might represent us,” Frazita said.
