Politics for a Tuesday

[pauraque_bk]

The best evidence suggests that LJ is much more liberal than the general population. My own election poll, primarily answered by fandom people, went even more overwhelmingly for Kerry. (I also asked only US citizens to participate; if I'd opened it up to everyone, I'm sure we'd've seen even more Kerry votes.)

Based on these polls, LJ fandom resembles a strongly Democratic-voting city, like Philadelphia or Washington, DC. That gels with my subjective experience of what the political views of online fans are like -- we're a big bunch of liberals. It feels much like my real life, and I live in Berkeley.

There are conservatives in fandom, of course, and they seem to be well aware they're in the minority, as the success of therightfangirl should attest.

So, my question of the day is: Why is online fandom so liberal? When this comes up, I usually hear variations on two different answers:


1. The internet as a whole is liberal.
We've already seen that LJ is liberal, and it seems to make sense that the internet would be, because so many internet users are sub/urban (or at least were in 1998). Then again, many users are also financially successful, which could indicate greater conservatism.

And there are online services that more accurately reflect the politics of the general population than LJ. AOL polls, for example, usually seem close(r) to national polls. I'm also reminded of that online newspaper poll on gay marriage some months back that we all encouraged each other to go vote in. It was a pretty even split. (But are conservatives better at organizing? Well, that's another topic.)

If there are any fandom oldbies listening, what were politics like before fandom got online?


2. It's the slash, baby.
Can this possibly be a major factor? Do conservatives really go looking for fanfic online, notice slash, and take their business elsewhere? Surely there are enough het and gen fandom outlets to make this a non-issue, except for the most savagely anti-gay individuals. (Ooh, has anyone polled the politics at the Sugar Quill?)

Or maybe it's the other way around. Are liberals attracted to fandom in greater numbers because of the gay-friendly atmosphere?


Responses from conservatives would be especially welcome.

Comments

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Heh, I was expecting, "So, my question of the day is: Why don't we secede and form our own country?"

Anyway, to throw out my opinion, I think part of what you're seeing is that internet users are likely to be more educated than non-users, and education correlates with liberalism. Looking at the professions of people involved in fandom (who I know), I see heavy weighting toward librarians, teachers, scientists and computer geeks - all which tend toward the liberal politically. Most fans are women, and women tend to vote liberal (although not so much in this last election, apparently, as historically, according to a recent article in the Washington Post). And the fandoms I participate in are book-based fandoms, and the typical avid reader tends to be more educated than nonreaders, see above.

[zuzuanni.livejournal.com]

Just to let you know, a democrat has never gotten the majority of the college-graduate vote. Both in 2000 and 2004, Bush won the majority of the college-graduate vote. It's not the education thing, unless you possibly include self-educated and some college in your definition, but they're aren't any statistics for that. I always thought that education correlated to liberalism as well until I read an article about it. I was quite surprised myself.

I'm sure you're right on track with the women thing though. The fact that HP fandom is so heavily female probably has something to do with our heavy majority of liberal-leaners.

[sprite6.livejournal.com]

I always thought that education correlated to liberalism as well until I read an article about it.

Really? Interesting! I've been hearing about that correlation from many folks for a long time. I'd love to see that article if you remember where it was from.

[arclevel.livejournal.com]

I've heard it the other way around, too, and generally from reliable (though not primary) sources. I wonder what the statistics are for those with graduate/professional degrees. Of course, that said, a higher education, especially for those with an MD or JD, correlates rather strongly with higher wealth, which correlates as conservative. As for those in academia, which is what people frequently think of as "the educated," if studies showed that they weren't liberal, I think I'd seriously question their methods. I have no problem agreeing with the statement that college campuses are bastions of liberalism; I just happen not to mind.

[pauraque]

As Isis points out, the women=liberal correlation has not been as strong recently as it has in the past. Only 51% of women voted for Kerry.

more education = liberal leaning?

[tesseract-5.livejournal.com]

hmmm... true about women traditionally voting more strongly for dems. I thought towards the end of the election season, Kerry was polling about 60% with women. But as we know the polls were a bit off.

Where did you find this article about college graduates not voting strongly liberal Zuzanni? I'd like to read it and see who wrote it. If its the National Review, then hmm... same with Mother Jones. :shrug: