The Political Leanings of the Choir

Do unequal levels of participation across social groups correspond to unequal policy preferences in the political voices of the active citizenry? Across the established democracies, the politically active lean toward the Left at each level of social status. The end result is that the political biases of upper-social-status individuals are moderated by those who are politically active. However, this pattern varies. For traditional economic issues, there is a conservative bias among activists controlling for their social status. For cultural issues such as gay rights and protection of immigrants, political activists are more liberal than their social-status peers. This asymmetry in political voice across different issues is an under-recognized aspect of democratic participation.