A Pew Research Center survey conducted this year found that Americans are more critical of social media’s impact on democracy than people in any other country. Almost two-thirds (64%) of U.S. adults say social media does more harm than good to American democracy. Although this negative view is generally strong in both parties, there are significant partisan and ideological differences in the strength of this and other views related to social media and politics.
This Pew Research Center analysis focuses on partisan and ideological differences in Americans’ views on the impact of social media on U.S. democracy and politics.
For this analysis, we surveyed 3,581 U.S. adults from March 21 to 27, 2022. All participants are members of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel drawn from a nationwide random sample of residential addresses. In this way, nearly every American adult has the opportunity to choose. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education, and other categories. Learn more about ATP’s methodology here.
U.S. internet and social media usage data is based on a telephone survey conducted from January 25, 2021 to February 8, 2021.
Below are the questions, answers, and methodology used in this analysis.
Nearly three-quarters (74%) of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say social media is bad for U.S. democracy, compared to Democrats and Democratic-leaning minorities (57%). ing.
Overall, Republicans have a more negative assessment of social media’s impact on American society than Democrats. They say social media is an effective way to raise public awareness about political or social issues (71% vs. 83%) and create sustainable social movements (65% vs. 79%). Democrats are less likely to respond. Republicans are also less likely than Democrats to think social media is effective in getting elected officials to pay attention to issues (51% vs. 64%). There are no partisan differences as to whether social media can actually influence policy decisions or change people’s minds about political or social issues.
Republicans are also less likely than Democrats to say that access to the internet and social media has made people more informed about domestic events (61% vs. 69%). be more accepting of people of different ethnicities, religions, and races (32% vs. 39%); They are more informed about current events in other countries (62% vs. 68%). And the way they talk about politics has become more civil (12% vs. 17%).
Meanwhile, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say social media has increased political divisions (82% vs. 78%). Majorities of both Democrats and Republicans say social media makes people more easily manipulated by false information and rumors (although Democrats are more likely to see the spread of false information as a threat to the United States) ).
There are significant ideological differences within each party in how Americans view these issues. People on both ends of the ideological spectrum, such as conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats, believe social media is more politically divisive than moderates in the party, and that it makes people less polite when talking about politics. They are likely to argue that it is less accurate. These findings mirror a Center for Research survey conducted earlier this year, in which both conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats felt that technology companies had a negative impact on recent national developments. They found that they were more likely than moderates of each political party to say that they had a strong influence.
Despite concerns about the influence of social media, conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats are the most likely to spread political or social messages themselves (this pattern echoes the Center’s previous (consistent with survey results). Only 23% of Americans who use social media post about political or social issues, but most of those users (55%) identify as conservative Republicans or liberal Democrats. recognizing.
Note: The questions, answers, and methodology used in this analysis are listed below. and complete dataset.
Laura Clancy He is a research analyst at Pew Research Center specializing in the study of global attitudes.