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President Donald Trump鈥檚 false insistence that he is the rightful winner of the 2020 election has exposed like nothing else in his time in office the possibility that America is becoming a post-truth society, where political partisans can鈥檛 agree on a unifying framework of facts, and emotion and personal belief steer the winds of public opinion.

Since the vote, Democrats and Republicans seem to be living in different worlds. Supporters of President-elect Joe Biden point to his solid leads in a number of key battleground states and record-breaking overall vote total as evidence he won fair and square. Many supporters of President Trump have been convinced by right-wing media allegations, so far unsupported by evidence, that the election was rife with fraud 鈥� with dead people voting, ballots tossed, and corrupted election machines changing thousands of votes at a swipe.

Caught in between are state and national election officials of both parties who insist that the nation has managed the heroic act of holding a fair and free vote, with no more glitches than normal, despite a pandemic and historic turnout. They point out that the Trump campaign鈥檚 many lawsuits about the results have virtually all collapsed and are doing nothing but further documenting the solidity of Mr. Biden鈥檚 win.

Republican Al Schmidt, a Philadelphia city commissioner, perhaps spoke for many of these undersung election workers in a CNN interview last week.聽

鈥淚 realize a lot of people are happy about this election and a lot of people are not happy about this election,鈥� said Mr. Schmidt. 鈥淥ne thing I can鈥檛 comprehend is how hungry people are to consume lies.鈥�

This divide over what constitutes truth and facts has been developing for some time, say experts. It鈥檚 not just the result of the rise of right-wing media outlets such as Fox News or the election of a president whom fact-checkers rate as an unparalleled source of political falsehoods.聽

It鈥檚 also about the rise of social media, the blurring of lines between fact and opinion, and the decline in trust of many national institutions and even the nature of expertise.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a phenomenon that鈥檚 not tied to one party or administration. ... It鈥檚 not only an information problem. It鈥檚 about the context in which information exists,鈥� says Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior political scientist at Rand Corp. and co-author of 鈥淭ruth Decay: An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life.鈥�

Unaddressed it could threaten democracy itself. As former President Barack Obama pointed out this week in an interview with the Atlantic,聽if we lose the ability to sort the true from the false, then by definition the marketplace of ideas does not work 鈥� and neither does democracy.聽Our whole theory of knowledge 鈥� epistemology 鈥� is threatened.

鈥淲e are entering an epistemological crisis,鈥� President Obama told Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg.

Truth and politics

It may not have begun with him, but President Trump has proved that truth-bending politics has its advantages. A candidacy that began with Mr. Trump leveraging 鈥渂irtherism鈥� 鈥� the lie that Mr. Obama was not born in America 鈥� is ending with a president clinging to false stories about why he has won reelection, despite overwhelming evidence he has lost.

During the campaign, Mr. Trump insisted without evidence that mail-in ballots were rife with fraud. He cast doubt on ballots counted after Election Day, though lengthy ballot tallies and checks are routine. Since the vote he has seized on small discrepancies in county vote counts as reasons why the ballots of entire states should be invalidated and state legislatures should name him as the winner of their Electoral College votes.

The president may sincerely believe these moves will keep him in the Oval Office. But in the past, he has used falsehoods and misdirection just to throw dust in the air, overwhelm the media, and create an appearance of scandal to delegitimize opposition. In his famous outreach to Ukraine 鈥� for which he was impeached 鈥� Mr. Trump only pushed for an investigation into Hunter Biden鈥檚 business deals to be announced, not completed or even begun.聽

In his fight to stay in office, the president has often taken a bit of true information and presented it out of context. On Wednesday night, he tweeted that in Wisconsin, former Vice President Biden had received 鈥渁 dump of 143,379 votes at 3:42 AM, when they learned he was losing badly.鈥� What Mr. Trump did not mention was that the 鈥渄ump鈥� was a routine release of ballots by a number of counties and that not all of the ballots were for Mr. Biden, as a Reuters fact check clarifies.

While Rudy Giuliani gives press conferences, as on Thursday, alleging widespread fraud, in court he is far more measured: 鈥淭his is not a fraud case,鈥� he told a federal judge in Pennsylvania Tuesday.

This sort of activity could continue to cloud Mr. Biden鈥檚 presidency, says Whitney Phillips, a lecturer on media literacy and misinformation at Syracuse University.

鈥淚t is creating a permission structure to not accept Joe Biden as president,鈥� Dr. Phillips says.

That may have real-world consequences, she adds. If a quarter of the population does not think Mr. Biden is a legitimate president, what does that mean for his coronavirus response plans? Will he face more entrenched opposition to masking recommendations or vaccine distribution?

鈥淭his is not just an abstract conversation about electoral consequences 10 years down the road,鈥� she says.

Dr. Phillips says it is also important to place Mr. Trump鈥檚 current charges in context. The president began constructing a narrative about the 鈥渄eep state鈥� and shadowy enemies almost from the moment he entered office. It has been a thread linking the investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller, the impeachment effort, and more fervid false conspiracy theories such as those espoused by QAnon. This summer he began pushing a message that the Democrats would steal the election from him by any means necessary. This feeds a constant media diet by right-wing outlets that wraps around and encompasses many issues and 鈥渆xplains鈥� confusing developments.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very hard to see outside the narrative. People are convinced of the underlying idea, and they鈥檙e going to seek that story out,鈥� Dr. Phillips says.

鈥淲e wanted to support our president鈥�

Many supporters of President Trump believe wholeheartedly that the vote was rife with wrongdoing, with dead people voting, ballots falsified, and corrupted election machines changing thousands of votes at a swipe. A recent Monmouth poll, for instance, found that 77% of Trump backers believed Mr. Biden鈥檚 victory was due to 鈥渇raud.鈥澛�

That鈥檚 in contrast to the 60% of Americans who believe Mr. Biden won the election fair and square, according to Monmouth.

Sign-waving fans of the president interviewed at Nov. 14鈥檚 鈥淢illion MAGA March鈥� in Washington were certain there was no way he could have lost legitimately. They cited the size of Trump rallies, Mr. Biden鈥檚 flaws, and U.S. economic strength.

Janine Luzzi, a financial analyst from New Jersey, woke up at 5:15 a.m. to drive down to Washington with a friend.

鈥淲e wanted to support our president. We know he鈥檚 been cheated,鈥� said Ms. Luzzi.

Terry and Kevin Roche drove up from their hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, the day before the rally. They felt it was important to attend because they don鈥檛 think the election process is over, and that courts and legislatures will discover there was fraud.

鈥淗istorically, the economy, scandals, all the measures that we use to judge a candidate 鈥� Joe Biden could not have done well. So it鈥檚 very inexplicable. Simply because people don鈥檛 like Donald Trump鈥檚 tweets he would lose an election?鈥� said Mr. Roche, who works in computers.聽

Cathy Boyd, a nurse from western Massachusetts, spent seven hours on a train to reach the rally. She says she felt she had to come and support the president because his opponents are simply stealing the election.

鈥淚 tell people that President Trump exposed the evil and corruption. He鈥檚 the only person who can do it. He鈥檚 got his own money,鈥� said Ms. Boyd.

Why would Trump supporters be so sure about fraud in the election, when evidence to support that claim is lacking, more than two dozen court cases have gone against the president鈥檚 campaign or been withdrawn, and a majority of the country believes otherwise? Media silos may be one big reason. A quick glance at news headlines on Nov. 18 shows the split: The New York Times and other mainstream sources led with stories about the national coronavirus spike, with a smattering of pieces about the organization of the incoming Biden administration. Fox News, Breitbart, and OANN lead with Trump lawyer Mr. Giuliani laying out a 鈥減ath to victory,鈥� and the continuing struggle to certify vote results in Michigan鈥檚 Wayne County.

Many adults now get much of their news through Facebook and other social media sites, where it remains difficult to ascertain the validity of stories. At last weekend鈥檚 MAGA March, many participants repeated allegations that have been debunked by fact-checking, such as the false charge that Dominion Voting System machines were rigged to throw votes to Mr. Biden. As The Wall Street Journal pointed out in an editorial Thursday, if there had been a problem with Dominion machines, the hand recount Georgia just completed would have uncovered them. Dominion machines also were used in South Carolina and other states that voted for the president.

In his interview with The Atlantic, former President Obama criticized what he called the nation鈥檚 鈥渘ew malevolent information structure.鈥� America no longer has a trusted figure such as Walter Cronkite to bring us all together, he said. Locally owned and controlled TV stations are dwindling. Local newspapers run by experienced journalists are dying off.

鈥淢aybe most importantly, and most disconcertingly, what we鈥檝e seen is what some people call 鈥榯ruth decay,鈥� something that鈥檚 been accelerated by outgoing President Trump 鈥� the sense that not only do we not have to tell the truth, but the truth doesn鈥檛 even matter,鈥� said the former president in a separate interview with 鈥�60 Minutes.鈥�

Combating 鈥渢ruth decay鈥�

鈥淭ruth decay鈥� is a phrase Mr. Obama likely lifted from a lengthy 2018 Rand study of the same name.聽

Since his interviews 鈥渨e definitely have gotten renewed interest,鈥� says Dr. Kavanagh, who co-wrote the book with Rand president and CEO Michael D. Rich.

Truth decay, as defined by Dr. Kavanagh, is a set of four interrelated trends: increasing disagreement about facts and interpretations of facts and data, more and more blurring of lines between opinions and facts, an increased volume of opinions, and lowered trust in formerly respected sources of factual information.聽

Causes of these trends include changes in information providers, such as the rise in social media; an educational system that places less emphasis on media literacy and critical thinking; and political and demographic polarization.

Damaging consequences of this situation include the erosion of civil discourse, political paralysis, and uncertainty about national policy.

鈥淲e鈥檙e describing a situation in which people don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 true and what鈥檚 not 鈥� and they don鈥檛 know where to turn to find fact-based information,鈥� says Dr. Kavanagh.

Solutions to truth decay could include more teaching about civic responsibilities and media literacy.

鈥淯nderstanding the responsibility to become informed, and then having the tools to do it,鈥� says Dr. Kavanagh.

There is also much that journalism can do to help overcome the challenge, according to Rand. A first step would be much clearer separation of fact and opinion articles and broadcasts. Consumers conflate the two much more than many journalists realize. A second step would be an increased attention to breaking up high-quality news in small, digestible chunks. That鈥檚 a market currently dominated by low-quality news providers.聽

The online news environment is a big part of the problem. Right now, it鈥檚 a problem with more questions than answers. How to balance privacy and access against manipulation and hate speech? Are the companies themselves the right people to make those decisions?

Overall, with effort truth decay can be addressed, says Dr. Kavanagh.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not inevitable,鈥� she says.