Political Correctness Unpopular With All Ages & Races, Study Finds
A new study has discovered that most Americans are not fans of the culture of political correctness — even those who may be more sensitive to stereotypes and the division that they might cause — according to a report from Business Insider.
The study was conducted by the organization More in Common, whose stated goal is to “reduce polarization and social division in communities,” which found that 80 percent of society believes that the culture of political correctness has a role in society’s division.
Even the younger generations surveyed are uncomfortable with it, with 74 percent of people aged 24-29 and 79 percent of those under 24 uncomfortable with political correctness, making supporters of politically correct culture a minority across every age group.
Age wasn’t the only commonality, as all races felt that it was a problem as well.
Of those identifying as white, 79 percent saw it as an issue. 82 percent of Asians, 87 percent of Hispanics, and 88 percent of American Indians were not proponents of politically correct culture. African Americans are only slightly more supportive than whites, with 75 percent seeing political correctness as an issue.
The general conclusion of the study is that the “us vs them” culture war has been vastly overstated in American society, as More in Common found that about two-thirds of Americans are quite flexible in their opinions and are tired of the deeply polarized narrative that is pushed nationally.
Political correctness is widely unpopular with Americans of all ages and races, a study finds https://t.co/qXOtXgqDc4
— Insider Politics (@insiderpolitics) October 11, 2018
“Political polls and years of knife-edge elections have convinced many that our country has become a 50:50 society, divided into two opposing political tribes and trapped in a spiral of conflict and division,” the report said. “Our research uncovered a different story.”
The report described seven different political classifications in American society: Progressive Activists, Traditional Liberals, Passive Liberals, Politically Disengaged, Moderates, Traditional Conservatives, and Devoted Conservatives.
For those at the most uncompromising ends of the spectrum, the study found that just 6 percent could be classified as devoted conservatives, while only 8 percent could be progressive activists. The poll was conducted nationally, querying 8,000 respondents over the course of 30 hour-long interviews and six focus groups held between December of 2017 and September of 2018.
Most who participated found themselves in the “exhausted majority” and hold similar views on immigration, sexual harassment, white privilege, Islamophobia, police brutality, and feminism.
“America’s political landscape is much more complicated than the binary split between liberals and conservatives often depicted in the national conversation,” said the report, which did note that those on each end of the spectrum are shifting farther apart each day. “Our polarization is not simple, but nor is it insoluble. We need to understand it, so we can fix it.”
