Civic identity: media, belonging, & Latiné youth in the 2020 US presidential election.

We explore how Latiné immigrant-origin youth used and made sense of media to enact their civic identities during the 2020 US presidential election cycle. In a polarized national context, this project highlights the voices and experiences of the participants (n=39). We conducted and analysed semi-structured interviews to identify three comprehensive themes. Findings suggest that participants used social media to dispel misinformation allowed them to redefine community and belonging, becoming informed citizens to protect and strengthen these communities, acting on their distrust of media, democracy's fourth pillar, and reframing what it means to belong to and engage in a democracy.