Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share
“Nearly two-thirds — 62% — of Americans say the political climate these days prevents them from saying things they believe because others might find them offensive.”
Strong liberals stand out, however, as the only political group who feel they can express themselves. Nearly 6 in 10 (58%) of staunch liberals feel they can say what they believe. However, centrist liberals feel differently. A slim majority (52%) of liberals feel they have to self‐censor, as do 64% of moderates, and 77% of conservatives.
While there is a partisan edge to this, both sides are intolerant.
“50% of Strong Liberals Support Firing Trump Donors; 36% of Strong Conservatives Support Firing Biden Donors”
This is insanity.
Did researchers have any insights on how it got to this point intolerance?
That’s not the scope of the article, but I believe this passage may contain a clue. “These data suggest that a significant minority of Americans from all political persuasions and backgrounds—particularly younger people who have spent more time in America’s universities—are most likely to hide their views for fear of financial penalty.” That might suggest that universities are the epicenter of the growing intolerance.
Thanks! This made me curious and I found another study that was done in 2019 by Pew Research. It had similar findings but had more insights about to the contributing factors (within the first 2 pages).
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/06/19/public-highly-critical-of-state-of-political-discourse-in-the-u-s/
It’s no surprise they blame Trump. And Trump certainly bears some of the blame! If you think back to the Republican primaries, he was not nice.
I tend to think of Trump more as a consequence of the growing intolerance than a cause, but both can be true. For example, refusing to talk to your neighbor can be a consequence of bad relations and a cause of further erosion.
I didn’t think they were saying Trump was the root cause but more of a force that significantly exacerbated the dynamic. Yet, the findings on page 2 of the study seemed to mirror a great deal of the findings in the study you highlighted…providing additional insights especially at it related to college age subjects. Interesting stuff.
Also, I think that the poor quality of online exchanges could have enhanced uncivil tribalism in offline contexts.
Probably true. Twitter and Facebook are awful things.