"Survey shows Clinton supporters are more aggressive online than Sanders supporters"

[Redwoods Red]

http://www.dailydot.com/politics/online-incivility-study-bernie-bro/

For as long as there has been democracy, there have been allegations of incivility levied by one side of the political divide against the other.

A survey of 1,017 Americans over the age of 18 set out to quantify that rancor for the 2016 election cycle, and the results cast some doubt on a long-standing narrative of the Democratic presidential primary: That the supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have been significantly nastier online then the supporters of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

<snip>

What's more surprising is the perception on the Democratic side—nearly twice as many respondents viewed Clinton's supporters as very aggressive (30 percent) as said the same for Sanders supporters (16 percent). While women were more likely than men to see Trump supporters as aggressive, the opposite was true for both Clinton and Sanders.


Among respondents who point to Clinton as their first choice, 22 percent labeled Clinton supporters' online behavior as very aggressive. Within the Sanders camp, 14 percent of his supporters leveled the self-proclaimed democratic socialist's fan club as especially aggressive.

These results run contrary to the popular narrative of the so-called “Bernie bro,” passionate (typically male) Sanders supporters whose forceful push-back against anyone (typically female) saying nice things about Clinton was often viewed as harassment. The relative merits of the Bernie bro phenomenon were debated endlessly, but qualifying it has largely remained elusive.

“We didn't do a lot of follow up specifically about Bernie bros or anything like that, but the numbers certainly point to the fact that there's probably a little bit more attention going to the Bernie supporters who are taking a very hard stance compared to what seems to be happening out there,” Hankin explained. “I think there's a lot of discussion out there, but that discussion may be proportionally out of whack—at least according to the survey results that we see.”

To be fair, many Clinton supporters have felt like they're consistently and repeatedly harassed into not speaking out about their backing of Clinton online. In a series of interviews with the Daily Dot earlier this year, a number of Clinton supporters reported regularly feeling intimidated when talking politics online with friends, family members, and acquaintances who vocally and repeatedly backed Sanders.

It became enough of an issue that Sanders himself addressed it in a speech. “We don't want that crap,” Sanders said during an interview with CNN in February. “Look, anybody who is supporting me doing sexist things, we don't want them. I don't want them. That is not what this campaign is about.”

<snip>

Much, much more at the link, including a bunch about Trump supporters.

[JonLeibowitz]

34. I saw some truly aggressive behavior directed at you on DI yesterday.

....wow.

[Ferd Berfel]

37. Well hell - they're paid. We're not

[grasswire]

2. that's because the "Bernie bro" was a construct of David Brock...

...and his propaganda machine.

[GreatGazoo]

23. as cover and deflection for their paid trolls

Part of the problem for the real Hillary supporters is that only scripted professionals can run her defense (which is mostly offense). The average Hillary supporter can't give you that word parsable, equivocal answer on fracking or $15 hour min wage. They forget to insert the word "unaccountable" when talking about getting big money out of politics. Etc.

[jfern]

3. It's obvious to anyone who isn't a Hillary hack

The whole BernieBros was a total fucking lie.

[msongs]

6. "hillary hack" now there's some aggression for ya nt

[jfern]

10. No, running a year long campaign demonizing Bernie supporters as racist and sexist white males is

[bjo59]

4. I'm struck by the un-analyzed use of the term "aggressive" in this article clip.

Aggression can be felt as such for many different reasons. One reason that should be acknowledged is when a less informed person in an argument experiences a more informed person as "aggressive." This article is about different groups of people assessing the the aggression of other groups of people. We might all agree that many in Trump's audiences are objectively aggressive because we've seen and read about them punching and yelling threats. On the other hand, it is not so clear why "Clinton supporters reported regularly feeling intimidated when talking politics online with friends, family members, and acquaintances who vocally and repeatedly backed Sanders." That is a very odd sentence. Vocally and repeatedly backing a candidate that your friend or relative doesn't like is not an objective form of aggression, it is something that is sometimes subjectively experienced as aggression. Bernie Sanders supporters tend to be very informed about their own candidate's policies, the opposing candidate's decades long record, and the numerous and varied problems facing this country and the world. Being regaled with information that you're not in a position to argue against because of a lack of knowledge could very definitely be felt as being aggressed against, especially when all you can respond with are claims like"Bernie's chief campaign strategist is getting rich off the campaign donations," "Bernie's yammering voice is so irritating," and "well, Hillary's winning and Bernie is a loser!"

[cui bono]

5. So true. And nastier too,and less principled as evidence by the exploitation of serious 'ism' issues

for political gain and to smear a good man who has been fighting for their interests and for the eradication of those 'isms' his whole life.

It's been truly incredible to see all of this sort of behavior.

.

[Art_from_Ark]

7. It has certainly been an eye-opener

[arcane1]

28. Not to mention their several "other" sites where they do nothing but mock DUers.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. A lot of them seem like they just picked up the cliffs notes version of "trolling for dummies"

I mean, I appreciate those who take the time to master any craft, but I can spot a dilettante easy.

[Sky Masterson]

9. I hadn't noticed

Well, with the exception of every time I try to do a Positive Bernie thread that is.
I think they believe they are winning something if they drop a turd in it.

[VulgarPoet]

11. Modern tumblr keyboard "activism" at its finest. nt

[djean111]

12. The Cliff's Notes version - well, duh! Yes, they are. n/t

[B Calm]

13. I personally have witnessed Hillary supporters calling Bernie a Commie.

[Vinca]

14. I imagine a whole lot of her supporters posting are connected to lobbying firms.

There's a whole lot of money at stake for the parasites and the "right" person has to be elected. Big pharma, for example, definitely doesn't want a Bernie presidency.

[Mnpaul]

15. Aggressive

but mostly ineffective

Most of their talking points fall apart quickly. Some of the "silly" even ends up being quite funny in a pathetic sort of way.

[JoePhilly]

16. That is some of the weakest survey analysis I have ever read.

It honestly sounds like a survey conducted by middle school children.

[LexVegas]

17. From a survey of Sanders supporters.

[NurseJackie]

19. "They're being MEAN to me!"

[BootinUp]

31. oh lordy, I needed a laugh. nt

[Aerows]

18. I hate to use profanity

but I passed "I don't even give a fuck" about 30 miles back and it was a mercedes dragging it's muffler.

[gollygee]

20. A lot of people on both sides seem aggressive from what I've seen

The majority of people at DU are Bernie supporters so I think DU is more Bernie-aggressive, although there's aggression on both sides. And that doesn't necessarily translate to the Internet as a whole (obviously.)

Edit: I might have to change my mind after this morning. I'm seeing more Hillary-aggression than I saw a few weeks ago.

[UglyGreed]

22. Of course they are

that is why the jury system here had to revised. Look what happened after Correct the Record decided to fund Breaking Barriers. Using child porn to shut down Bernie Facebook sites right before a primary began. After all Hillary has David Brock as an ally............... Birds of a feather.

[Redwoods Red]

24. Maybe this particular corner of the internet ought to reinstate that five-hide rule.

[arcane1]

27. The Clinton Campaign won't allow that. And DU's owners do what the campaign says.

[pdsimdars]

25. That has been my experience too, Right here on DU too.

[dana_b]

29. definitely

I just made a comment on the Nate Silvers thread and a Hillary supporter came at me, insulted my intelligence repeatedly and was very rude. I had said NOTHING against any Hillary supporters or even Hillary herself.

They can be wicked nasty here on DU.

[arcane1]

26. Defending lies, and the liars who tell them, gets rather frustrating. Hence the aggression.

[MisterP]

30. there's no content or principle to defend, so that's all they have left

and they dare you to contradict them because that just makes you look like the bad one

in my experience: you can talk to 95% of hardcore Sanders supporters, but only 15% of Clinton supporters; it's like how Fox News viewers don't watch anything else, while those who don't get most of their news from Fox watch EVERYTHING *but* Fox News: it's a "closed discourse community"

with Sanders supporters you get facts and the broader political context that's strangulated the working and white-collar classes for four decades; on the other hand it's "nuh-uh!" and "Jane Sanders poisons Mexicans!"

take this for example:

the woman's pure "Clinton! wooohhooo! my strength comes from your opposition" and the protesters are *opposing Clinton's installation of a coup regime in Honduras that turned it into a living hell run by cartels and activist-murderers*

[Agschmid]

40. This...

with Sanders supporters you get facts and the broader political context that's strangulated the working and white-collar classes for four decades;

Is patently false. Both sides have their people who are over the top, and never post a damn fact.

[Peregrine Took]

32. Typical of paid trolls - accuse us of what they are doing.

How Rovian.

[DRI]

33. Crooked Hillary and her crooked PAC.

The paid Trolls from Hillary's SuperPac go after anyone who dare criticize the Crooked Queen. Bernie is one of the few honest politicians who is trying to awaken the masses to the corruption between big business and the political class.

Many we thought had our interests at heart have shown their hand during these primaries. Most have sold us out because of the corrupt influence of the Clinton's. Our only hope is for Bermie to keep winning and for the people to put enough pressure on the Superdelegates to do the right thing.

[Triana]

36. With propaganda and SmearMaster David Brock driving them...

...who's surprised?

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. Yesteday I had a HR supporter on FB push against this

her experience of Sanders supporters being aggressive, NEWS REPORTING, my experience of HRC supporters aggressive, well HRC supporters. Anecdotally I was leery of approaching the Trump supporters to get their side of the story... but I was wearing a PRESS PASS, which raises the actual physical risk... but they were nice, and answered my questions.

That was at the Cruz Rally which for obvious reasons they protested at.