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The Democratic Strategist

Political Strategy for a Permanent Democratic Majority

Teixeira: Beware the Twitterati

The following article by Ruy Teixeira, author of The Optimistic Leftist and other works of political analysis, is cross-posted from his Facebook page:

Who Do the People on Twitter Represent?

Well, they represent themselves quite well. The rest of us not so much.

This important article from Nate Cohn and Kevin Quealy focuses on how left Twitter posters differ from not just the American public as a whole but also from their fellow Democrats. Frankly, this has always been obvious to anyone reasonably acquainted with actually-existing public opinion. But it’s nice this pointed out in a major article with solid data.

Perhaps this explains how Biden remains popular among potential Democratic primary voters, despite the efforts of the usual Twitter flash mobs. Their view of Biden just does not represent how most rank and file Democrats feel about him.

One particularly striking finding: despite the efforts of many on Twitter (and their sympathizers) to argue that attacks on political correctness are just a campaign by the right against a fake problem, that is not the view of most Democrats. According to the data cited by Cohn/Quealy, 48 percent of Democrats on social media think political correctness is a problem in the US, compared to 70 percent of other Democrats. And those other Democrats outnumber the social media users 2:1. And this is among Democrats! Think about the rest of the country.

Contrary to the claims of the “woke” left, political correctness is most assuredly unpopular and most assuredly a problem. And in general, Democrats would be well-advised to heavily discount the views of those on Twitter. They’re far less important than they think they are.

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