Social media might not be to blame for Canadianssa国际传媒� ideological polarization, a new report on digital democracy in Canada finds.

The latest findings are from an ongoing effort led by the Public Policy Forum and McGill Universitysa国际传媒檚 Max Bell School of Public Policy called the Digital Democracy Project.

sa国际传媒淎 lot of people donsa国际传媒檛 use social media very actively,sa国际传媒� said reseracher Eric Merkley. sa国际传媒淧eople on Twitter are not representative of the broader population.sa国际传媒�

Instead, the study argues polarization in Canada arises partly from intense party loyalty and how far apart Canadasa国际传媒檚 political parties are, meaning party positions are an important factor.

Also, researchers found that people did not appear to make meaningful distinctions in their views between politicians from opposing parties and their supporters.

sa国际传媒淭his is troubling,sa国际传媒� the study says, because it suggests sa国际传媒減olarization does not just influence peoplesa国际传媒檚 opinions about the parties, but also how they view ordinary Canadians.sa国际传媒� Each other, in other words.

Researchers found evidence that Canadians are sa国际传媒渁ffectively polarizedsa国际传媒� sa国际传媒� they feel negatively towards other people simply for being part of the opposing group.

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That was based on three measures, including the levels of warmth participants in the study feel for their ideological comrades and opponents; how much they associate their allies and opponents with positive and negative traits; and how comfortable they feel with having someone from an opposing ideology as a neighbour, friend or relative.

sa国际传媒淧artisans have substantially colder and more negative feelings about ideologically opposed parties, compared to those that are ideologically proximate,sa国际传媒� and also see opposed parties as sa国际传媒渕ore socially distant,sa国际传媒� the study says.

The study goes on to note that though Canadians do seem to be polarized, itsa国际传媒檚 probably not our use of social media that is causing the divide.

Based on an analysis of the activity of about 50,000 Twitter accounts, the Digital Democracy Project researchers found evidence supporting the theory that users tend to create sa国际传媒渇ilter bubblessa国际传媒� for themselves. Very few partisans, it found, follow information sources from other parties.

But the study suggests the echo chambers do not extend far beyond Twitter.

By comparing the Twitter data to information gleaned from the survey, researchers also found just 16 per cent of Canadians are exposed to strongly partisan news sources. A tiny fraction sa国际传媒� fewer than one per cent sa国际传媒� get more than half their news from sa国际传媒減artisan-congenialsa国际传媒� outlets.

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Most Canadians still engage broadly with mainstream news sources, the study suggests.

If media consumption is not to blame for polarization, the answer the study offers instead is that sa国际传媒渢he biggest driver of polarization seems to be ideology and partisanship themselves.sa国际传媒�

Strong partisans have much more intense feelings towards opposing parties than weak partisans, the study finds.

Christian Paas-Lang, The Canadian Press

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