Ideological migration: Observational Data on 150 Erstwhile Democrats

Klein, Daniel B. and Fleming, Cy, WalkAway: Observational Data on 150 Erstwhile Democrats (May 17, 2019). Forthcoming, SOCIETY; George Mason University Department of Economics Research Paper Series. SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3389650

Abstract: #WalkAway signifies walking away from the Democratic Party. The movement was launched in June 2018 by Brandon Straka, when he uploaded what became the prototypical video of an individual telling his or her story about walking away. During 130 days, 150 erstwhile Democrats provided video testimonials at Straka’s official YouTube channel. Of the 150 erstwhile Democrats, 23% report catching a lot of grief, plus another 16% report catching some grief, for questioning or deviating from leftist opinions. Most importantly, 70% suggest a civility gap between the left and non-left. These are lower bounds, since the testimonials are spontaneous monologues, not replies to questions. Many other observed features are reported, to deepen our thinking about ideological migration. However, filters involved in the sample must be borne in mind. A linked Excel file contains complete data.

Keywords: ideology, ideological migration, party politics, nationalism
JEL Classification: A13, H0, P0, Z1