A turning point in politics: documenting the representation of populist conservative ideologies to college-age students through YouTube Vlogging

This study captures and creates a profile of the ideologies and methodologies used by college-age-centric conservative organizations in their online presence that targets college-aged viewers. This data was gathered from three principal college-age conservative organizations’ YouTube channels over a four-month period in 2020. Data was analyzed for the presence of ideas regarding the notion of individuals, institutions and political institutions. Support was found for the ideas that these channels present themselves as offering alternative knowledge and moral teachings that other outlets supposedly will not offer, as well as a fomenting fear and distrust of those considered to be part of the collective ‘Left’.