By Will Hall, Message Executive Editor
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LBM)—The Pew Research Center released data, Feb. 5, indicating that “close to half” of all U.S. adults have stopped talking about political and election news in this time of intense political polarization.
The survey of 12,043 participants found that 45 percent indicated they no longer share about political news with at least one person:
— six in ten liberal Democrats stopped talking politics with someone because of something that person said, compared with 45 percent of conservative Republicans;
— half of white Americans have taken this step of silence, while roughly one-third of Black and Hispanic adults have done so
But there also were differences even within political and social groups.
While 60 percent of liberal Democrats have sealed their lips because of political differences with someone else, only 41 percent of Democrats who identify themselves as moderate or conservative have followed suit.
Meanwhile, only 36 percent of moderate and liberal Republicans say they “dropped someone from their conversations about political news.
There were no statistically significant differences based on sex or age.
