Polite Online Debate Boosts Political Engagement—But Only for the Exhausted
A survey of 28,000 Europeans reveals that civil social media discussions drive online political participation, particularly among people burnt out by heated offline debate. The finding suggests platforms investing in civility tools could strategically re-engage disengaged citizens—a key challenge for democratic participation in polarized societies.
Originaltitel: How do healthy political discussions invigorate online participation? Evidence from 17 European countries
Social media provide unprecedented opportunities for public deliberation. However, a growing number of users perceive negativity in political debate taking place in those venues and are increasingly frustrated when discussing politics with those they disagree with. In this article, we test the proposition that perceiving online discussions as healthier (i.e. more polite and civil) than offline discussions invigorates online political participation. We rely on an online survey fielded in 17 European countries on more than 28,000 individuals. Our findings indicate that being embedded in healthier discussions on social media is more of an important predictor of online participation for those respondents reporting higher political discussion fatigue and less so for those perceiving online discussions as fun. Overall, our study offers cross-national evidence of why and for whom exposure to healthy political discussions online might be mobilizing.