🧵 How Campaigns Shape Attention—Not Belief

Based on: Shaki et al. (2024)
arxiv.org/pdf/2412.1...

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Source:
Shaki et al. (2024)

A Game-Theoretic Model of Campaign Priming

arxiv.org/pdf/2412.1...
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Campaigns aren't about changing your mind.

They’re about getting you to care about the issue that helps their candidate win.

That’s not persuasion—it’s priming.

And it’s central to how campaigns work.

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So next time you wonder why everyone is talking about one thing, ask:

Who benefits if this issue dominates the election?
What’s not being talked about?
What am I being primed to care about right now?

That’s the core media literacy question.

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What campaigns actually do:

They prime issues.

Each side tries to make their issue feel most urgent.

Not to change your mind—but to reframe your attention.

🧾 Shaki et al. (2024)
🔗 arxiv.org/pdf/2412.1...

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Why does this matter for disinfo awareness?

Because misinformation often works the same way:
– Not by fabricating facts
– But by shifting focus
– By making the wrong threat feel urgent
– Or the right issue feel irrelevant

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This fits what we see in real-world elections:

– One side leans into crime
– The other leans into inequality

Each hopes that their issue becomes the one voters use to decide.

Not by lying—just by focusing.

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