Hybrid salience in the case of the 2020 US election: Assessing the dynamics of candidates’ agendas
Abstract
This study examines the dynamics of agenda setting among social media, traditional media, and political candidates. We draw evidence from the 2020 political campaigns led by Donald Trump and Joe Biden for the presidency of the United States, as a political marker in agenda setting dynamics. Data was gathered from different sources in the 251 days leading up to November 2, 2020. Although mainstream media display a weakened agenda setting effect, a complex interplay of intermedia agenda setting influences involving the candidates’ Twitter (X) activity, traditional media, Facebook reactions, Google search patterns and random events such as Trump’s sickness, constitute a vortex of hybrid records of salience.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Electoral Systems and Political Participation
Social Media and Politics
Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
Publication details
- Journal / source
- The Communication Review
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 320–346
- Publication date
- 19 February 2026
- Language
- EN