Jiore Craig is a vice president and the director of the digital practice at the political polling firm Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosnera. She specializes in differentiating between online sentiment and wider general public opinion. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Boigon: Most readers have heard of voter suppression. But your firm has done work on another election issue, voter depression. What's the difference? Craig: We often hear about voter suppression, which is efforts that aim to prevent people from voting. Voter depression is more an effort to create an enthusiasm gap, to minimize enthusiasm. If people are feeling excited about a candidate, if they’ve really bought into a certain policy, it’s planting questions in their mind that make them feel like maybe they can’t be as enthusiastic, or maybe they have no ability to have an impact on the vote. It’s more about attitude and more about weakening energy or an intention around a candidate. Boigon: Who is generally targeted by voter depression? Craig: Black Americans are targeted disproportionately by foreign-state actors and domestic actors. But other groups are targeted as well— young people and immigrant communities. We know that most of the disinformation campaigns or influence operations seek to break down trust in some way. When you’re breaking down trust, often the first place you go is where that trust might already be broken down a little bit, so taking advantage of voters who already feel a little bit disconnected from the system. Where that void exists, it’s easy to push voter depression content, voter suppression content and disinformation campaigns that further widen that gap. A lot of the countering efforts are not necessarily about debunking information-- they’re about restoring trust. Boigon: What does voter depression messaging sound like? Craig: It often will start with posing a question that slowly starts to break down enthusiasm or trust over time— Does it really matter if you vote? Does it really matter if you support this candidate? Does it really matter that this candidate says these things when this candidate is this kind of person? Specifically around Senator Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for Vice President, we’ve seen voter depression tactics revolving around her identity: “She’s not as Black as she says she is.” “She’s not as American as she says she is.” Bad actors are baselessly questioning her authenticity. When Joe Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee, there was messaging that suggested to people that the two candidates, Biden and President Trump, were the same, and there was no point in voting and you would be betraying yourself if you cast a vote for either candidate. Boigon: Do you think voter suppression, voter depression and disinformation efforts are stronger now than they were in 2018 or 2016? Craig: I think the volume is higher. There are more bad actors in the game, but I also think that they are more familiar with the technology. Our ability to detect them has improved as well. |