Democratic Backsliding through Political Brainwashing (Priming)

1. Situation
Poor Voting Behavior in the Philippines: How Priming Affects Political Opinions and Biases

2. Issue
The recently conducted May 2022 elections was a platform for power-grappling and opposing parties
portrayed by an array of colors that represent a collective political ideology. Supported by divided
portions of the voting population that instinctively follows a candidate whom they perceive embodies the
characteristics of a good leader, Philippine politics is depicted as a political landscape that is engrossed in
the power held by the consensus which is then distinctively nurtured by the individuals who managed to
enter the political scenario through their charismatic backgrounds. Subsequently, given the country’s
historical and generational lineage of corruption and poverty, the masses are motivated not only by the
need to vote but also for the exigency of immediate gratification. With this, it becomes an opportunity or
a ground for all political parties to present their agendas to the public thereby garnering immense political
support. This support is invoked by political parties simply by aligning their campaigns to a facade of
nationalism, growth, and development further enticing the voting population to perceive their right to vote
as an obligation.
3. Claim
This paper claims that the use of priming in campaign propaganda and platforms alters the political
behavior of the voting majority thereby contributing to the recurring issues in the Philippines. Further, the
paper asserts that there is a slow erosion of democracy and democratic principles due to poor voting
behavior in the Philippines. With this, the paper will focus on the primary question: Does priming affect
the political biases and behavior of voters during elections?
4. Ground
Case in point was the 2022 Philippine Presidential Elections where disinformation was at an all-time
high where the supporters of other candidates targeted former Vice President and then Presidential
Candidate Leni Robredo by distorting her past interviews to make her look like she was talking about
nonsense. This is an accurate example of priming that makes use of the easiest accessible media such as
Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok and then further reinforcing the disinformation through celebrities who
are considered as “credible sources” to discredit rival candidates.
5. Warrant
This means that any form of media, mainstream or not, can influence the voters’ assessment on
political candidates. Moreover, this means that if the initial stimulus is backed up continuously, then it has
the power to condition the recipient’s cognition on the subject at hand. Thus, Priming has become a very
important concept in politics, especially in getting voters to believe in a politician’s moral standing and
platforms; it creates preconceived notions and ultimately causes people to form biases (Nowak, 2012, 5-
8).
6. Backing
Although under the realm of Psychology, according to Nowak (2012, 1-3), when it was introduced to
Political Communication in 1980, Priming became communication criteria with its standards being
utilized by recipients to evaluate political reality, which pertains to issues most accessible and frequently
and intensively reported. Priming in the aspect of Political Communication then became the effect of
prior context on the information being reinforced by certain factors such as the media. This is, in part,
since the earlier stimuli left a lasting impression that altered the understanding of incoming stimuli. Due
to its conditioning nature, priming was then adapted into Political Science to properly explain how media
contributes to the priming of voters through the level of accessibility of the information they provide.
According to Iyengar and Kinder (1987), the media has played a very important role, especially when
judging complicated political matters as it is easily accessible and reaches a wider range of audiences.
Their study discovered how the media had the biggest influence in terms of swaying voters to specific
politicians’ ideologies. Nowak (2012, 4), based on Iyengar and Kinder’s assessment, believed that
political priming occurs when the news and media suggests to the audience that using specific issues as a
benchmark for evaluating the performance of leaders and the government is the right way to gauge a
leader and his or her capabilities.
7. Rebuttal
As a double-edged sword, priming is needed to be fully grasped to gauge just how deep it can
influence the political environment around voters and facilitate stimulating information in a positive
manner rather than as a propaganda tool. Partially, the voting majority are susceptible and vulnerable to
campaign tactics whereby priming can be depicted merely as an influencing factor rather than the point
cause. From the result of the study conducted by Kinder, it can then be used to answer the question if
priming affect political biases of voters during elections. It is obvious how this theory, which can
manipulate what information is emphasized and what information is discredited, allows for propaganda
and journalists to take advantage of its effects to change the narrative in favor of their stance. However, it
only differs in how it is applied.
A) Counter-claim - Nevertheless, political campaigns have transitioned to online platforms to target
a wider audience and partly due to social movement restrictions, it is coupled with the fact that
misinformation and disinformation exists in social media. In this way, priming can connect with
misinformation to destroy the repudiation of another candidate and/or produce a facade that will
make the voting population biased against opposing candidates and have a leader-centric behavior
towards their preferred candidate which ultimately causes the poor voting behavior of the voting
population. The effectiveness will however depend strongly on the ability to construct the
message as briefly and precisely as possible with the goal of leaving an impression in mind.
B) Grounds - Last election, it was highly known and widespread that Bongbong Marcos is of “red”
as it was the color of his father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and his party named Kilusang Bagong
Lipunan, while Robredo is Pink (Colcol 2022). Even though Leni Robredo remains to be the
chairperson of the Liberal Party, she ran for the position as an independent candidate. She shed
yellow which represents said party or being ‘dilawan’ and created her own brand with Pink. This
political movement was aimed to differentiate Robredo from the former ruling party’s mixed
legacy, linkage to elitism, and past issues, such as those by the Duterte administration, to continue
with her own goals and campaign (Palatino 2022). Even so, many citizens remain to characterize
her as ‘dilawan,’ as well as her supporters. Further conflict between the two candidates is also
amplified with how Marcos Jr.’s father was ousted by the People Power revolution, linked to
Dilawan. This supports the counterclaim that priming can only be achieved through
C) Warrant -The strategy of Priming in the realm of politics has become more rampant now more
than ever mainly because of the audiences’ ease of accessibility to all types of information
presented in the media: fact-based, historical, and propaganda. It has become such a huge deal
 that when wielded correctly, can sway a whole nation’s political election to the favor of whoever
writes the most convincing stimuli that it creates a lasting impression; an impression so
convincing that whatever fact is offered to discredit the stimuli is considered a propaganda.
Priming has now become so powerful that it is able to influence the voters to change their
political judgment on certain issues and change their set of criteria for choosing a political
candidate if it is aligned with the prior stimuli it received. A part of a candidate’s marketing
campaign is to have color/s associated with them to consolidate their supporters and establish
optical recall (Colcol 2022).
D) Backing - According to ABS-CBN News (2022), the top two contenders in the presidential seat
of the 2022 Philippine National Elections are Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. and Maria
Leonor ‘Leni’ Robredo. With that, the paper also considers that priming was only nurtured due to
the number of audiences garnered by each politician with Facebook and YouTube respectively.
Moreover, it is also observed that the May 2022 elections had the greatest number of politically-
engaged posts in social media (Onn, 2022). As compared to past elections, it should be noted
that the use of social media as a propaganda tool was not as vast. This resulted in priming
becoming the lesser influencing factor in voting behavior (Onn, 2022). In addition, priming can
also be seen with what the researchers have observed from the variety of responses of Marcos
supporters or ‘BBM’ in social media which include Robredo and her supporters called
‘Kakampinks’ being labeled as elitists or merely rooting for elite democracy. One of the reasons
for this could be how many artists and personalities that are well-off are Kakampinks that
participate, engage, and frontline Robredo’s rallies and campaigns (Onn, 2022), as compared to
Bongbong Marcos who lacks a significant number of such. This only results in further division,
misconceptions, and misunderstandings within society especially from the perspective of the
masses. Another instance would be the political scheme of the Marcoses which is historical
distortion (CNN 2022).
8. Counter-Rebuttal
Despite this, priming is still an effective tool in forming political biases and opinions regardless of the
magnitude. This is because political opinions can retain an individual’s mindset due to their preconceived
norms. This rejects the counterclaim that although priming is nurtured in social media platforms, the
effects of which can be instilled and manifested through voting behavior which still speaks volume on
how impactful it is to an individual and more importantly, a voter. This phenomenon can be described
best through the recurring and reoccurring social problems that the country faces. Although the
government is mostly to blame, it is the voting population that gives the politicians a platform to push
forth their advocacies or individualistic agendas. By having a voting population that is easily swayed,
democratic principles in the country can be perceived as a weak foundation for political opinions and that
priming can easily portray something that is essentially wrong as right due to the country’s adherence to
numbers and unreasonable political biases.
9. Modality
This ease of access then becomes the main key into pushing a narrative. In a developing country
like the Philippines, politicians look at it like a breeding ground for disinformation. The reason why
priming is highly effective in the country is partly because most of the voters are less knowledgeable
when it comes to fact-checking sources and information. People are quick to clamor towards any
information that is quick to understand and has many “sources”. As it stands today, Priming poses a great
threat in politics because of its power to condition the minds of voters to accept and or reject a narrative;
and if used by powerful individuals against ordinary citizens, priming then can either support the
progression of a country or cause its demise.

References:

Baluyot, Juju Z. “Comment: Fact-Checking Is No Longer Enough to Destroy the Disinformation

CNN (2022). “Historian on new Marcos administration: ‘It’s historical distortion, not
revisionism.’” Accessed July 2, 2022. http://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2022/5/19/Marcos-
historical-distortion.html

Colcol, E. (2022). “Politics of Color: How Red, Pink, Yellow Unite and Divide.” Reportr.
Accessed July 2, 2022. http://www.reportr.world/news/explainer-red-for-bongbong-marcos-pink-
for-leni-robredo-yellow-aquino-political-colors-a4833-20220223

Iyengar, Shanto, and Donald R. Kinder. “News That Matters: Television and American Opinion.”
Political Science, January 1, 1987. https://politicalscience.stanford.edu/publications/news-
matters-television-and-american-opinion.

Nowak, Ewa. “The Concept of Priming within Political Communication Studies,” 2012.
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://studiamedioznawcze.pl/Numery/2012_2_49/nowak-
en.pdf&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1656831687402150&usg=AOvVaw1RJdYb1cdU1tuWSsVj2Q
w1.

Onn, L. P. (2022, April 7). 2022/33 “Stronger Social Media Influence in the 2022
Philippine Elections” by Aries A. Arugay. ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. Retrieved July
18, 2022, from https://www.iseas.edu.sg/articles-commentaries/iseas-perspective/2022-
33-stronger-social-media-influence-in-the-2022-philippine-elections-by-aries-a-arugay/

Palatino, M. (2022). “Introducing the Colors of the Philippine Election.” The Diplomat. Accessed
July 2, 2022. https://thediplomat.com/2022/03/introducing-the-colors-of-the-philippine-election/