We all know political discussions can get heated. According to research by PRRI, it can lead to people getting the boot on social media. The interesting part is just who’s doing the blocking. There’s a stereotype that it’s men who get the angriest over politics, but PRI’s research shows that it’s women who are more likely to block someone on social media because they disagree with their politics.
There’s also a much higher rate of blocking among those who identify as Democrats.
According to the research around 13% of Americans say they’ve blocked someone on social media due to politics. But a full 30% of women who identify as Democrats say that they have. That’s more than double the rate of male Democrats. Around 14% of men who identify as Democrats say they’ve blocked someone due to their political views.
Republican women are a bit more likely than Republican men to block you over politics. Around 10% of women who identify as Republicans say they’ve blocked someone due to political views, while only 8% of Republican men admit to blocking a friend over politics.
Among those who identify as moderates, 11% admit to blocking or unfriending someone over political posts. Those who identify themselves as liberals are almost three times as likely to have blocked or unfriended someone; 28% admit to it. Among those who consider themselves conservative, just 8% say they’ve blocked or unfriended someone over politics.
Have you ever de-friended a pal over politics either on social media or in real life? Let us know in the comments.
~ Cynthia
No, I’ve not unfriended anyone for political views. I did unfriend a nephew for “colorful language”. I do find your statistics very interesting though, the party of “tolerance” is most likely to be the unfrienders, democratic men and then democratic women being the larger group.
As a party-umaffiliated liberal, I find this a little alarming. One of the reasons that I consider myself a liberal is because of the inclusiveness of the movement. It bothers me when fellow liberals choose to exclude a friend because of something as petty as politics.
Randal