Leftists oppose discrimination more than Right – poll

Discrimination against ethnic and religious groups is more likely to motivate Leftists than Rightists to take political action, the Pew Research Center found, as part of a study on civic participation in 14 countries around the world.

Pew conducted face-to-face surveys in 14 nations encompassing a wide range of political systems. The study, conducted in collaboration with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) as part of their International Consortium on Closing Civic Space (iCon), includes countries from Africa, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

The survey found in general that, aside from voting, relatively few people take part in other forms of political and civic participation. But it singled out Israel when it came to the large ideological divides on taking political action.

“Israel stands out as a country where ideological differences are especially common,” the study said. “Every issue tested is more motivating to those on the Left than to those on the Right. Fully 63% of Israelis on the political Left, for example, say they would likely take political action on the issue of discrimination, compared with just 33% of those on the Right.”

Israeli leftists were also more likely to take action than rightists on political corruption, schools, health care, poverty, freedom of speech and police misconduct. On corruption, 22% more leftists than rightists would be willing to take action.