THE VERY LIBERAL IN AMERICA ARE DIFFERENT

Liberals are creating echo chambers online. Samuel Adams writes:

To many, those on the extreme left appear to be more politically radical, insular, vocal and politically active than their moderate or even extremely conservative counterparts. It turns out that this is entirely correct.

In addition to a host of new studies and reports showing that liberals live in a digital bubble and have less diverse social media networks than moderates or conservatives, new data from the AEI Survey on Community and Society adds another layer to the story: Extreme liberals are notably more active on social media generally and are far more politically engaged than their moderate and even very conservative counterparts.

The AEI data reveals that social media has helped created an echo chamber around extreme liberals at rates significantly greater than other ideological groups. While 25% of very liberal respondents stated that social media made them “a lot” more involved with like-minded others, just 13% of moderates and very conservative identifiers believed that the internet increased their connections to similar people to that degree.

In other words, extreme liberals are almost twice as likely to interact with those who share similar outlooks to themselves online compared to conservatives and centrists.

Going further, progressives are also far more dominant online when expressing their views. Forty-eight percent of very liberal Americans report posting online about their politics, such as publicly supporting causes and campaigns, compared to just 23% of moderates and 30% of very conservative Americans. Once again, very liberal Americans are twice as likely to engage digitally compared to moderates. Such behaviors can further radicalize those in these echo chambers.

[Samuel J. Adams, “The Very Liberal in America Are Different,” The Washington Examiner, August 16]