A recent advice piece in the New York Times Magazine presented a situation in which a liberal, progressive individual was having trouble socializing with a conservative person whose “personal political views [he found] so abhorrent.” In response to this liberal’s question, the New York Times discussed the ethics and practicality of spending time and developing friendships with those who hold divergent political and ideological views.
The piece rightly articulated the idea that civil society benefits when different ideas are shared among diverse groups, leading to debate and compromise. But the New York Times, along with many other outlets, focuses heavily on stories of liberals rejecting conservative views — habitually failing to present a true picture of political conversation in America and presenting a strong liberal bias.
New information from the American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life in its recent study, The State of American Friendship, has already made it clear that Democrats are generally less likely than Republicans to maintain friendships with those who have alternative views, and more Democrats than Republicans have ended friendships over political differences.
We now also know that when it comes to talking politics, the rates of political discussion in the United States are in line with earlier research on the frequency of political conversation, and it is unquestionable that most people do not talk about politics constantly. Furthermore, the data demonstrate that while the friendship networks of most people are not nearly as homogenous as they may appear online or in the press, Democrats’ networks are far less politically diverse than Republicans’ networks are — just as the New York Times piece illustrated.
Specifically, few people report regularly discussing politics or government with their friends. Political chatter is not nearly as frequent as it may appear from Twitter, Fox, or MSNBC: About 1 in 5 (21%) respondents say they discuss political issues at least a few times a week, and about 1 in 4 (24%) say they do so a few times a month. More than half (55%) of the public reports talking about politics with their friends less often.
Surprisingly, political discussion is not as high among partisans as one may initially suspect. Almost a quarter of Democrats (24%) and a quarter of Republicans (25%), including both strong and weak identifiers, report discussing politics with their friends a few times a week or more often. In contrast, and despite relatively small numbers of independents who lean to the Right, only 19% report discussing politics weekly or more often, and 15% of independents who lean to the Left say the same.
The majority of the U.S. polity, those in the middle and often politically disconnected and turned off by rancorous partisan politics, barely talk about politics as a general matter. And while partisans do so at appreciably higher rates, only a quarter report discussing politics at least weekly — hardly anything close to the Athenian or any other model of an engaged democratic demos.
Partisan people are also far more likely than independents and leaners to have friends who belong to their preferred party. But even partisans are not unified in the composition of their friendship networks. About half of strong and weak Democratic identifiers (51%) and half of strong and weak Republican identifiers (51%) report that a lot of their friends are part of the same political party as them.
Democrats’ friend groups are notably more politically isolated than Republicans’ are. While 43% of Republicans say some of their friends are Democrats, just 23% of Democrats say that some of their friends are Republicans — a 47% difference. Independents are far more diverse in their friendships, with 43% having some Democratic friends and 45% having some Republican friends. Additionally, just 12% of Republicans state that they have no Democratic friends. In contrast, a third (33%) of Democrats say they have no Republican friends.
The fact that Democrats are almost three times as likely as Republicans to have no friends in the opposing political party is dangerous for democracy. Avoiding the other side of the argument leads to the creation of echo chambers, weak thinking, and the feeling that there is something illegitimate about people with differing opinions. When members of one major political party turn inward and reject discussing a diversity of ideas, radicalization happens, and the capacity to work with and create policy to benefit as many people as possible diminishes significantly. Yet, Democrats are doing just that.
Having diverse networks is crucial for democracy, as is empathy and compassion for the views, stories, and lives of others. These factors make civil society thrive, but Democrats are not making enough of an effort here. Democrats, for all of their talk about inclusiveness, equity, and diversity, are unsurprisingly having trouble recruiting and retaining many groups in the nation. This dilemma arose because Democrats are talking to themselves too often and are failing to listen and engage genuinely with those outside their immediate networks, which diminishes our nation and its progress.
Samuel J. Abrams is a professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
