Rebranding Politics: The Impact of Generative AI on Political Branding and Voter Trust

Sammanfattning

Thesis Purpose: This study aims to shed light on how the integration of GenAI in political branding shifts voters' trust and perception of political persuasion attempts. Theoretical Perspective: The theoretical lenses of the Persuasion Knowledge Model and the Source Credibility Theory are used to explore how voters perceive and react to political entities using GenAI in their branding strategies. Methodology / Empirical Data Collection: To answer the research question, this study adopts an abductive qualitative research approach. The empirical material is collected through ten semi-structured interviews with participants ranging in different ages, genders, political knowledge, and education. The empirical data is analysed using thematic analysis, combining both inductive and deductive codes. Findings / Conclusion: The analysis of the empirical data revealed our key findings. The study showed that while participants identify GenAI to be efficient and contribute towards content creation, it’s undisclosed integration into political branding is met with distrust, triggering scepticism and perceptions of manipulation. However, responses are context-dependent. Factors such as content format, human touch, and tone plays a role in levels of persuasion and trust. This exposed a clear dissonance between participants’ stated trust and persuasion criteria and their actual reactions. Therefore, we define the trust equation: low trust in politics and existing political branding plus balanced trust in GenAI does not lead to higher trust in political branding, but rather reinforces distrust.