A Zogby poll conducted this past summer, with results only recently released, finds liberals are far more likely than conservatives to expose themselves to media content (television, radio, movies, etc.) which contains views contrary to their own. Conservatives tend to stick solely to outlets which confirm their already held views. (The poll itself addressed a wider range of issues, comparing individual politics with a range of entertainment preferences.)
There is some other interesting stuff in there - supposedly everyone likes classical music, which helps explain why there are so many classical stations on FM radio.
Unfortunately, other than the overview on the linked page above and the press release the page links to, there is nothing more about the data underling the conclusions.
However, the page does provide a link to this PDF file which provides some interesting information about the demographics involved in the study. In particular, I found the following through-provoking:
* It's within the margin of error, but more moderates agreed with the statement "Security is more important than liberties" than agreed with "Liberties are more important than security".
* I was similarly surprised to see most moderates agreed with the statement "The American Dream is for those who help themselves".
* I knew "An abortion is a private decision between a woman and her doctor" would be favored over "Abortion is murder", but not by such crushing margins. Even 25% of conservatives agree with the former statement.
* I was surprised at the margin by which moderates favored the statement "Government it too involved in regulating morality".
* I was shocked to see moderates favor privatizing social security by a 5% margin.
* I was shocked and dismayed to see 61% of moderates favored "It's important to teach evolution side-by-side with other theories on the origin of man".
* Conservatives continue to skew older.
Anyhow, I suspect just about anyone can find something which will surprise them in the demographic data. It's worth spending a little time looking through.
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5 comments:
Interesting, while I'm recovering from the yanking of my wisdom teeth, I'll read through the polling info.
I'd figure that the more urbanized, the more "liberal" one's views are...but also more diversity of media is available to someone living in NYC than in the middle of the desert. Not to say either is better or worse, just more opportunity to experience diversity in various ways.
example: I moved around throughout the US when I was growing up - father in Army, college prf & then NYC businessman - and I experienced more than my wife that lived in the same small Oregon town as a youth. My tastes in music & art have a wider range than my wife's...but we both have very similar religious & political views.
In the 70's and 80's I don't think ther eis any question you would be correct - I moved around a lot in a military family as well, and had similar experiences.
These days, however, even rural areas have cable, and just about all those cable systems carry the regular news channels such as FoxNews, CNN, MSNBC, etc. While it might still be somewhat easier to get exposure to differing viewpoints in urban rather than rural settings, I would assert for TV, at least, any such advantage these days is minimal.
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