At a time when the country’s polarizing politics and public discourse are dividing many Americans, close to half of all U.S. adults acknowledge that they have stopped discussing political and election news with someone, according to a new analysis of data from Pew Research Center’s Election News Pathways project. In total, 45% of the nation’s adults say they have stopped talking about political and election news with someone as a result of something they said, either in person or online. A slim majority of American adults (54%) say they have not cut off political conversation with someone because of something they said. The findings are based on a survey of 12,043 U.S. adults who are members of the Center’s American Trends Panel conducted from Oct. 29 to Nov. 11, 2019.
