OK, it’s not everyone, technically. But tens of millions of Americans have protested and rallied since 2016. And new data shows that not only does that number include a substantial amount of people who weren’t politically active before, but the act of protesting is cutting across political affiliations, age and race.
A new Washington Post-Kaiser Foundation poll found that 1 in 5 Americans have participated in a rally or protest since 2016. And 19 percent of those Americans had never attended a march or political gathering before.
The Post piece delves further into breakdowns of those numbers and what they could mean for the 2018 midterm elections, particularly since President Donald Trump’s election has been a motivating factor for many people to take to the streets.
The poll found that 70 percent of recently motivated activists disapprove of the president, while one-third of all protesters say they plan to volunteer or work for a 2018 congressional campaign.
Politically, 40 percent of rallygoers identified as Democrat (another 36 percent said they were “independent”). And while young people have been at the forefront of many movements, including Black Lives Matter and the more recent March for Our Lives, 44 percent of poll respondents who had protested were 50 years of age or older. A significant number of protesters were also fairly well off—36 percent made more than $100,000 a year.
The Post also notes that rallygoers were equally split between men and women, and “an outsize share” lived in America’s suburbs.
And just which causes were protesters rallying behind? “Women’s rights” was the top choice by far, with 46 percent of protesters saying that they had come out in support of that cause. The environment and energy causes came in second, at 32 percent, and immigration was next, at 30 percent.
“Racial justice” wasn’t a listed choice, but “police conduct” and “removing Confederate monuments” individually appeared on the list of top 10 causes (ranking seventh and 10th, respectively).