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Almost half of Americans have stopped talking politics with someone

“At a time when the country’s polarizing politics and public discourse are dividing many Americans, close to half of all U.S. adults acknowledge that they have stopped discussing political and election news with someone, according to a new analysis of data from Pew Research Center’s Election News Pathways project. In total, 45% of the nation’s adults say they have stopped talking about political and election news with someone as a result of something they said, either in person or online. A slim majority of American adults (54%) say they have not cut off political conversation with someone because of something they said. The findings are based on a survey of 12,043 U.S. adults who are members of the Center’s American Trends Panel conducted from Oct. 29 to Nov. 11, 2019. In examining which types of people are more or less likely to stop talking to someone about political news, four characteristics stand out: party and ideology, race and ethnicity, the medium relied on most for political news, and engagement with political news. Six-in-ten liberal Democrats (60%) say they have stopped talking politics with someone because of something they said. That number is substantially larger than the segment next likeliest to drop the subject with someone – conservative Republicans, at 45%. In another area of difference, half of white Americans have stopped talking politics with someone, compared with roughly one-third of black and Hispanic adults. And those who say they rely most on local TV for their political and election news are far less likely to have stopped talking with someone about politics than any other group, such as those who mostly get this news through news websites or cable TV…”

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