The Polarization Paradox: Social Media, Young Voters, and the Challenges to the Open Society

• DOI: 10.20944/preprints202502.1941.v1
• Publication Date: 2025-02-27T05:19:51Z
• Authors: Gil Baptista Ferr...; Lourenço Silva Fe...

The ideal of the open society, based on rational deliberation and pluralism, faces significant challenges in digital age. This study explores how affective polarization populist sentiments among young Portuguese voters reconfigure public space, conditioning democratic debate. Using a sample 130 first-time April 2024 legislative elections, we analyze relationship between populism, adherence to radical right-wing ideology levels polarization, considering role social networks as vectors these dynamics. results suggest that people with show greater preference for certain platforms influences this tendency. contributes debate impact an highlighting their amplifying discursive fragmentation eroding foundations