Social Media and Democracy: The Impact of Populist Radical Right Content on Political Trust and Democratic Satisfaction in Germany

How does exposure to populist radical right party (PRRP) content on social media affect political support? While research has examined the role of social media in fostering populist attitudes and mobilising support for populist parties, the broader effects of their prevalence in online spaces remain underexplored. To address this, this paper studies how being exposed to content related to the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Germany affects satisfaction with democracy and political trust. Drawing on literature on populist radical right rhetoric and classic media malaise theories, this paper argues that such exposure should lead to lower levels of political support. To test the pre-registered hypotheses, this paper employs original online survey data from Germany (N = 2000, ages 16–69). The results of the multiple linear regression analyses show that there is a significant negative association of exposure to AfD-related content and satisfaction with democracy, while there is no significant association for political trust. These findings contribute to understanding how social media use and exposure to populist content shape political attitudes.