Truth decay refers to the diminishing role of facts and analysis in American public life. According to Rand, a nonpartisan institution that seeks to advance the public good through research and analysis, the four drivers of Truth Decay are cognitive processing and cognitive biases, changes in the information system, competing demands on the educational system, and political polarization. It also noted the four trends of Truth Decay, including increasing disagreement about facts, a blurring of the line between opinion and fact, the increasing relative volume and resulting influence of opinion, as well as declining trust in formerly respected sources of factual information. The four consequences are, separately, erosion of civil discourse, political paralysis, alienation and disengagement, and uncertainty. This paper will be mainly focusing on how political polarization brings about truth decay and some potential solutions to it.

The Pew Research Center released a report on perceptions of political parties in early December. The data showed that a majority of Americans (69%) believe the gap between Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. is widening today, with only 8 percent saying it is narrowing and 23 percent saying it is unchanged. The other drivers are said to intersect with the polarization process. For example, cognitive biases might serve in people who share the same social media with others who hold same political opinions, resulting in repeated confirmation of preexisting beliefs between groups in social posts. Also, changes in the information system, manifested in increasing social media platforms, tend to expose people to information and opinions they side with and let them disregard opposing views with the filters and algorithms embedded. Twitter’s suggestions to users about other people to follow are one example. Changes in the information system also include the increasing partisanship of some news sources. Fox News was perhaps the most overtly partisan at its inception, pushing a strongly conservative agenda through its conservative primetime talk shows, which did influence public opinions, as a 2007 study found that the share of Republican votes rose between 1996 and 2000 in districts where the station was broadcast. Entering the age of Donald Trump’s Twitter, people’s political views are more polarized while less serious in the informal platforms. First, Trump’s lexicon is simple and repetitious, relying heavily on monosyllabic words such as “good,” “bad,” and “sad,” represented by “Failing @NYTimes will always take a good story about me and make it bad. Every article is unfair and biased. Very sad!” (May 20, 2016). Second, Trump’s Tweets are usually “negative in connotation—and the majority of them are out right insults.” This uncivil and informal communication can easily entail Trump’s supporters to follow not evidence-based opinions and take them as truths.

Under Biden’s Presidency, a possible means to abridge people’s distrust on news reportage is to establish a transparent administrative accountability system. The experienced senator Frank Church founded the Church Committee after the Watergate Scandal, investigating domestic espionage and secret plots by the country’s spying agencies, and can put to stop illegal and clandestine activities. The establishment of such institutions can be seen as the first step to rise public trust.

Secondly, it would be wise for the Biden Administration to hire experts. Perceived competence is central to public trust, so qualifications must be the deciding factor when the new administration identifies individuals to take on positions of national authority. An effective example is Biden’s employment of Dr. Fauci as America’s chief medical adviser in fighting against the pandemics, and plan to disseminate masks for every American in 100 days of administration. Once this promise comes to reality, public trust towards government agencies shall considerably boost.

Restoring trust will be a slow and twisted process. But the new administration can begin to repair the deep fissures in America’s society by dredging fake news and advocate for truthful reports. The health of America’s participatory democracy depends on it.