Common sense: The mobile internet AND old media polarized the Left, but not so much the Right; "what polarized the Right was…the polarization of the Left"

Mobile Internet and Political Polarization. Nikita Melnikov. November 1, 2021. https://b0ac9a84-177d-4e54-a19e-df525dfaf051.filesusr.com/ugd/87e482_9eb44ae506c446f9a0094db9a82bc610.pdf

Abstract: How has mobile internet affected political polarization in the United States? Using Gallup Daily Poll data covering 1,765,114 individuals in 31,499 ZIP codes between 2008 and 2017, I show that, after gaining access to 3G internet, Democratic voters became more liberal in their political views and increased their support for Democratic congressional candidates and policy priorities, while Republican voters shifted in the opposite direction. This increase in polarization largely did not take place among social media users. Instead, following the arrival of 3G, active internet and social media users from both parties became more pro-Democratic, whereas less-active users became more pro-Republican. This divergence is partly driven by differences in news consumption between the two groups: after the arrival of 3G, active internet users decreased their consumption of Fox News, increased their consumption of CNN, and increased their political knowledge. Polarization also increased due to a political realignment of voters: wealthy, well-educated people became more liberal; poor, uneducated people—more conservative.

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h/t Tyler Cowen (https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2021/11/mobile-internet-and-political-polarization.html), who comments:

My read of these results (not the author’s to be clear!) is that the mobile internet polarized the Left, but not so much the Right.  What polarized the Right was…the polarization of the Left, and not the mobile internet.

And please do note this sentence: “This increase in polarization largely did not take place among social media users.”  It seems that on-line versions of older school media did a lot of the work.

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My view from a Libertarian perspective: this is what anyone not polarized would have seen years ago. But it was very rude to say so.