New Survey Finds 57 Percent Of Americans View Trump Supporters As ‘Very Aggressive’ Online

Social media consultancy RAD Campaign, Lincoln Park Strategies, and Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist and craigconnects recently conducted a survey that examined users’ feelings about the “hostile social media environment” surrounding this year’s presidential election in the U.S.

The study found that 57 percent of those surveyed said that Trump supporters are “very aggressive and/or threatening online.”

In a world run by selfies, Kardashians, and Snapchat, the issue of a candidate’s online supporters has inevitably come to the forefront in this election cycle, as Bernie Sanders and Trump fans continue to come under the spotlight for their “aggressive” behavior.

Although Sanders’ online squad has been cited as aggressive online in media reports, earning themselves the name “Bernie Bros,” only 16 percent of those surveyed said Sanders supporters were “aggressive and/or threatening,” compared to the 30 percent who found Hillary Clinton supporters “aggressive and/or threatening” online.

Even 35 percent of self-identified Trump supporters admitted that fans of The Donald are “veryaggressive and/or threatening” online.

And while Trump claims that he doesn’t “have a message for the fans” who send anti-semitic threats online, the survey found that 54 percent of respondents think presidential campaigns should take more of a stand against the behavior of their virtually violent supporters.

“We were taking a look at the social media landscape in terms of how people were discussing the 2016 election online and taking a look at the conversations and whether the political discourse that was happening among people, whether that was friendly and civil or was it starting to get aggressive and hostile,” Allyson Kapin of the RAD Campaign said in a statement. “We were noticing … a rise in aggression and hostility (online), so we wanted to find out if that was just happening in small, politically engaged circles or was that happening across America.”

The poll reportedly focused on the following questions:

1. Is social media empowering or silencing political expression in the U.S.?
2. Are Americans expressing their opinions about presidential candidates online?
3. Which presidential candidate supporters are most aggressive or threatening online?
4. Should political campaigns stand up against the aggressiveness of their own supporters?

According to AdWeek, the poll surveyed 1,017 Americans over the age of 18, and found 15 percent of respondents have unfriended someone on a social network because of an opinion they’ve expressed about the 2016 election.

In addition, the poll found 23 percent of Hispanics/Latinos, and 25 percent of Americans under the age of 35 “are most likely to unfriend someone they don’t agree with politically.” And, 14 percent of respondents under the age of 35 said their job could be at risk if they expressed political opinions online.

Key pointsuncovered by the survey include:

• Trump supporters have the worst reputation of being aggressive or threatening online.
• One-fourth of Americans under 35 have unfriended someone they don’t agree with politically on a social network.
• More people have expressed an opinion about opposition to a presidential candidate than support for a presidential candidate online.
• Men are more inclined than women to call both Clinton and Sanders supporters very aggressive. Women, however, are more inclined than men to say that Trump supporters are very aggressive.