Twitter Democrats vs. IRL Democrats
Democrats who tweet about politics are whiter, wealthier, more educated, and farther left (ideologically and on the issues) than those who do not.
Twitter is not real life. As one Biden campaign aide told the media in the aftermath of 2020, the 46th president won by “turning off Twitter” and "staying away from it” because they “knew that the country was in a different headspace than social media would suggest.”
Nonpartisan research backs this up. Two high-profile reports from 2019 made the case for Biden’s eventual off-Twitter victory:
A Pew Research report found that not only do a mere 23% of Americans say they use Twitter, but they are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans.
A New York Times report featuring data from More in Common’s Hidden Tribes study explored the gap between Democrats who post content online and those who don’t, finding that the Twitter cohort is whiter, more educated, and more liberal than those who don’t.
Data from after the 2020 election furthers the case made by the 2019 data (and the 2020 Democratic primary results). We conducted an analysis of the 2020 American National Election Studies (ANES) dataset to further explore distinctions between self-identified Democrats based on how often they post about politics on Twitter. This analysis further demonstrates the stark disconnect between the Democrats’ extremely online faction and the rest of the party.
Just how different are Democrats who tweet about politics (“Twitter Democrats”) from those who do not (“IRL Democrats”)?
Twitter Democrats are self-identified Democrats and Democratic leaners who say they tweet about politics “always,” “most of the time,” “about half of the time,” or “sometimes,” while IRL Democrats are those who do not.
In the 2020 primaries, Twitter Democrats preferred Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren while IRL Democrats preferred Joe Biden.
Among those who voted in the 2020 presidential primaries, Twitter Democrats are nearly twice as likely to have voted for Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren (49%) than IRL Democrats (26%).
IRL Democrats are 46% more likely to have voted for Joe Biden (60%) than Twitter Democrats (41%).
Twitter Democrats are whiter, wealthier, and more educated than IRL Democrats.
Twitter Democrats are 13% more likely to be white (60%) than IRL Democrats (53%), while IRL Democrats are 50% more likely to be Black (21%) than Twitter Democrats (14%).
Twitter Democrats are 35% more likely to make more than $100,000 per year (54%) than IRL Democrats (40%).
Twitter Democrats are 30% more likely to have a four-year degree or more (52%) than IRL Democrats (40%).
Ideologically and on specific issues, Twitter Democrats are to the left of IRL Democrats.
Twitter Democrats are more than twice as likely to identify as “extremely liberal” (18%) than IRL Democrats (7%), while IRL Democrats are nearly twice as likely to identify as moderate (25%) than Twitter Democrats (13%).
Twitter Democrats are more than twice as likely to say federal spending on dealing with crime should be decreased (33%) than IRL Democrats (16%), while IRL Democrats are nearly twice as likely to say it should be “increased a lot” (29%) than Twitter Democrats (15%).
Twitter Democrats are 62% more likely to say that immigration levels should be increased (68%) than IRL Democrats (42%), while IRL Democrats are 75% more likely to say immigration levels should be kept the same (42%) than Twitter Democrats (24%).
Twitter Democrats are 34% more likely to say that the issue of climate change is “extremely important” (55%) than IRL Democrats (41%), while IRL Democrats are more than twice as likely to say it is “moderately important” (21%) than Twitter Democrats (9%).
Twitter Democrats are 19% more likely to say that “by law, a woman should always be able to obtain an abortion as a matter of personal choice” (82%) than IRL Democrats (69%), while IRL Democrats are nearly three times more likely to say that “the law should permit abortion only in case of rape, incest, or when the woman’s life is in danger” (14%) than Twitter Democrats (5%).
IRL Democrats are 20% more likely to say that reducing the deficit is “extremely” or “very” important (60%) than Twitter Democrats (50%).
Twitter Democrats are less patriotic and optimistic about America than IRL Democrats.
Twitter Democrats are more than twice as likely to say that being American is “not at all important” to their identity (17%) than the IRL Democrats (8%).
IRL Democrats are 57% more likely to say that being American is “extremely” or “very” important to their identity (55%) than Twitter Democrats (35%).
IRL Democrats are more than twice as likely to say there is “a great deal” or “a lot” of opportunity to get ahead in America (23%) than Twitter Democrats (10%).