Poll: Facebook at Risk of Losing 32% of Conservative Users
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (Screenshot)
Facebook is at risk of losing 32% of its conservative users due to concerns the social media giant is censoring its content, a new national omnibus survey by McLaughlin & Associates reveals.
Sponsored by the Media Research Center (MRC), the national survey of conservatives who are likely voters, conducted August 22-27, 2018, shows that 89.5% of conservatives have used Facebook at some point and that less than half (47.7%) are both using it and committed to continuing to do so:
Of conservatives who have used Facebook, 32.3% say they have either left (7.5%), or are considering leaving (24.8%), Facebook due to its censorship of conservative views.
What’s more, nearly two-thirds (66.9%) of conservative likely voters have less trust in Facebook than they did a year ago. Likewise, nearly two-thirds (66.1%) do not trust Facebook to treat all political views equally and 64.6% believe sites like Facebook are intentionally censoring conservatives and conservative ideas.
Facebook Status of Conservatives:
- “I stopped using Facebook because of their censorship of Conservatives”: 6.7% (7.5% of conservative Facebook users)
- “I am considering leaving Facebook because of their censorship of Conservatives”: 22.2% (24.8% of conservative Facebook users)
- “I either stopped using Facebook or am considering leaving the platform for another reason”: 13.0%
- “I am currently a Facebook user, and I am not considering leaving the platform”: 47.7%
- “I have never used Facebook”: 10.5%
What’s more, nearly two-thirds (66.9%) of conservative likely voters have less trust in Facebook than they did a year ago. Likewise, nearly two-thirds (66.1%) do not trust Facebook to treat all political views equally and 64.6% believe sites like Facebook are intentionally censoring conservatives and conservative ideas.
Do you believe social media companies (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) are purposefully censoring conservatives and conservative ideas from their sites?
Do you believe social media companies (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) are purposefully censoring conservatives and conservative ideas from their sites?
- Yes: 64.6%
- No: 10.8%
- Not Sure: 24.6%
Do You Trust Facebook to treat all of its users equally, regardless of their political beliefs:
- Yes: 17.1%
- No: 66.1%
- Not sure: 16.8%
Is your trust of Facebook greater than, less than, or the same as it was one year ago?
- Greater: 6.8%
- Less than: 66.9%
- The same: 26.2%
Media Research Center President Brent Bozell issued the following statement concerning this new poll in the wake of controversies surrounding social media companies:
“These numbers are devastating to any CEO responsible for addressing the concerns of his customer base. According to this survey, 7% of conservatives have already left Facebook and another 25% are seriously considering it. That's nearly one-third (32%) of conservatives on Facebook -- potentially tens of millions of consumers. To make matters worse, two-thirds of conservative Facebook users trust Facebook less than they did a year ago. These trends should set off alarm bells at Facebook headquarters. They are bleeding a major customer base.“The question Facebook and other social media companies need to ask themselves is this: Do you want to be seen as an open platform for all political beliefs or would you rather be considered a left-wing public interest group that censors free speech worldwide? The latter will prove to be unbelievably costly. Censorship on social media is no longer a hypothetical; it's reality. So too is the evidence that this censorship is pointing to a massive conservative exodus.“
This survey polled 1,000 likely general election voters nationwide, 351 of whom self-identified as conservatives, during the period of Aug. 22nd to 27th, 2018.
All interviews were conducted online; survey invitations were distributed randomly within predetermined geographic units. These units were structured to correlate with actual voter turnout in a nationwide general election.
The poll has an accuracy of +/- 3.1% at a 95% confidence interval. The accuracy of the responses from the 351 self-described conservatives is +/- 5.2% at a 95% confidence interval.
All interviews were conducted online; survey invitations were distributed randomly within predetermined geographic units. These units were structured to correlate with actual voter turnout in a nationwide general election.
The poll has an accuracy of +/- 3.1% at a 95% confidence interval. The accuracy of the responses from the 351 self-described conservatives is +/- 5.2% at a 95% confidence interval.
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/craig-bannister/poll-facebook-risk-losing-32-conservative-users-due-censorship-concerns
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