A plurality of Americans — 46% — believe so-called “cancel culture” has gone too far in its influence on society, according to a new survey.
The Morning Consult/Politico poll found that only 18% of 1,991 respondents surveyed between July 17-19 “approve of cancel culture,” which is synonymous with culturally sanctioned group shaming. By contrast, 82% of those surveyed disapproved of the phenomenon.
Among Christians, 28% “strongly” or “somewhat” approve of cancel culture. Fifty-one percent of Christians “somewhat” or “strongly” disapprove of the practice.
One of the most telling things about the survey, as pointed out by Forbes’ Andrew Solender, is the fact that only 33% of respondents expressed a strong opinion about cancel culture in one way or the other. And 24% had no opinion at all on the matter.
The survey found 27% of people believe the trend has a “somewhat” or “very” positive effect on the country. Forty-nine percent said it has a “somewhat” or “very” negative impact on our culture.
Nearly half of liberal respondents — 45% — said group shaming is a “very” or “somewhat” positive phenomenon in American culture. Only 13% of conservative respondents said cancel culture has a “very” or “somewhat” positive impact on society. The new survey showed 53% of Democrats “often” or “sometimes” voice their dislike of public figures on Twitter. By comparison, 34% of Republicans “often” or “sometimes” voice similar feelings on social media.
It should be noted that 53% of the poll’s respondents agreed with the statement that “even though free speech is protected, people should expect social consequences for expressing unpopular opinions in public, even those that are deeply offensive to other people.” Only 31% agreed with this statement: “There should not be social consequences for expressing unpopular opinions in public, even those that are deeply offensive to other people because free speech is protected.”
Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi, who often bucks against progressive ideology, told Politico’s Ryan Lizza he was not at all surprised by the result of the survey, explaining he’s long believed people would ultimately reject cancel culture.
“One of the reasons I took up the subject,” he told Lizza, “is that I have a lot of discussions with people who work in the media who in the last few months have said they are afraid to pitch a certain kind of story because they don’t want it to get around that they’re interested in a certain topic because they might end up on the radar of people in the union or those who are very politically engaged in the newsroom.”
The newly released Morning Consult/Politico data comes on the heels of the resignation of gadfly journalist Bari Weiss, who was despised by her progressive cohorts and social media’s staunchest liberals for daring to question progressivism’s sprawling reach.
In her blistering resignation letter, which she sent to New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger, Weiss rebuked the newspaper for allowing so-called “social justice warriors” on Twitter to become the outlet’s “ultimate editor.”