In a hyper-partisan world, it can feel like even the most mundane of conversations suddenly can erupt into a politically charged jousting match. However, more often than not, those who engage in political discussions are more likely to do so with likeminded individuals in an echo chamber where congruent world views are reinforced (and even strengthened) and differing opinions are either nowhere to be seen or openly derided.
It certainly can't help matters much that those who are most likely to engage in online political discussions also happen to have more extreme liberal or conservative ideological views. In 2010, Pew Research Center conducted a post midterm election tracking survey that contained a number of questions related to online political engagement. Whether or not respondents had ever engaged in an online political discussion was one of the questions asked in the survey.
When broken down by ideological intensity, the share of respondents in each ideological category who report having ever engaged in online political discussion is notably higher among those with very conservative or very liberal ideological views.
This pattern remains even when moderate to conservative respondents are separated from moderate to liberal respondents.
Of course, bear in mind that those with very liberal or very conservative views comprise a comparatively small proportion of those surveyed.
Even so, while those with more extreme views may be outnumbered by those with more moderate views, the percentage of very conservative and very liberal respondents who do discuss politics online certainly does a lot to counterbalance the number of moderates who engage in online political discussions. And, given the fact that social media use has exploded since 2010, and in light of evidence that partisanship has only worsened, the propensity of those with more extreme political views to be most involved in the expression of ideas in the online "public square," certainly doesn't make for optimistic short-term predictions about the state of party politics in the U.S.
It certainly can't help matters much that those who are most likely to engage in online political discussions also happen to have more extreme liberal or conservative ideological views. In 2010, Pew Research Center conducted a post midterm election tracking survey that contained a number of questions related to online political engagement. Whether or not respondents had ever engaged in an online political discussion was one of the questions asked in the survey.
When broken down by ideological intensity, the share of respondents in each ideological category who report having ever engaged in online political discussion is notably higher among those with very conservative or very liberal ideological views.
Of course, bear in mind that those with very liberal or very conservative views comprise a comparatively small proportion of those surveyed.
Even so, while those with more extreme views may be outnumbered by those with more moderate views, the percentage of very conservative and very liberal respondents who do discuss politics online certainly does a lot to counterbalance the number of moderates who engage in online political discussions. And, given the fact that social media use has exploded since 2010, and in light of evidence that partisanship has only worsened, the propensity of those with more extreme political views to be most involved in the expression of ideas in the online "public square," certainly doesn't make for optimistic short-term predictions about the state of party politics in the U.S.
_________________________________
For more analysis and access to the data I used, see my project on GitHub: Social Media and Partisanship.
Comments
Post a Comment