More in Common carried out a number of polls, focus groups and one-on-one interviews with more than 1,000 people for its deep dive into progressive activists, the most leftwing of the seven “tribes” the company has identified among British voters.
The authors argue that given this divergence from the rest of the population, it is a particular problem that progressive activists are more likely to misunderstand other voters, criticise them and even refuse to campaign alongside them.
“In particular this report finds that a tendency to impose purity tests on those they will campaign with, overestimating how many people share their views, and using language that is inaccessible to the wider public is potentially driving a backlash against progressive causes rather than helping them to win people over.
The research also shows the group is more likely to dislike and criticise those that disagree with them than other voting blocs, a trait the report’s authors argue has contributed to the repeated failure of progressive campaigns and the rise of the global far right.
In focus groups, the authors found that progressive activists were more likely than other voters to believe their opponents had been misled by misinformation and, possibly as a result, hold a negative view about them.
