Liberals and conservatives find common ground on technology
While our recent surveys have focused on ways in which conservative and liberal blog readers disagree, this week’s results show they do actually agree on some things.
Readers of liberal and conservative blogs agree that the personal computer will take a backseat to mobile devices over the next decade. They also feel strongly that employers and schools should not have access to their private social networking information.
BUT…
Fans of political debate will be relieved to know that America’s political polarity has NOT yet subsided.
Conservative blog readers are more than four times more likely to be very concerned with national security threats and more than three times more concerned about the US federal deficit.
Ever wonder why do partisans’ views on things like mobile phones and school privacy match so neatly, while opinions on issues like US security differ so strongly? Most likely this is because the parties have not (yet!) staked out positions on those issues.
As Ezra Klein notes in the June 25 New Yorker,
Each of us can have firsthand knowledge of just a small number of topics—our jobs, our studies, our personal experiences. But as citizens—and as elected officials—we are routinely asked to make judgments on issues as diverse and as complex as the Iranian nuclear program, the environmental impact of an international oil pipeline, and the likely outcomes of branding China a “currency manipulator.”
According to the political-science literature, one of the key roles that political parties play is helping us navigate these decisions. In theory, we join parties because they share our values and our goals—values and goals that may have been passed on to us by the most important groups in our lives, such as our families and our communities—and so we trust that their policy judgments will match the ones we would come up with if we had unlimited time to study the issues.
Posts about our prior survey results are here, here and here.
The numbers come from surveys conducted between March and June on well known political blogs including ThinkProgress, Political Wire, Wonkette, Drudge Retort, Right Wing News, Althouse, Outside the Beltway, News Hounds, Pandagon, Linkiest, Wizbang, Viral Footage, Informed Comment, The Agonist, Jack and Jill Politics, Yid With Lid, Burnt Orange Report, Chicago Boyz, NoisyRoom, The Steel Deal, MyDD and damnum absque injuria.
Many of these blogs are members of Liberal Blog Advertising Network (LBAN) and the Conservative Blog Advertising Network (CBAN).
If you’re a blogger and would like to see how your readers compare to the readers in this study, send us a note to data@blogads.com.
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