How Political Identification and Individual Differences Influence Black Lives Matter Message Reactions

Abstract

Consistency theory, positing that individuals process information based on preexisting attitudes, is particularly relevant in today’s polarized political climate. This study investigates the impact of political identification, demographics, and individual differences (dogmatism, authoritarianism, and symbolic racism), on liberals’ and conservatives’ agreement and endorsement tendencies toward Black Lives Matter (BLM) tweets. A diverse sample of 348 adults with equalized political ideologies evaluated tweets related to the BLM social movement on social media, providing ratings of agreement and willingness to endorse the messages. The findings reveal a positive correlation between conservatism and higher levels of dogmatism, authoritarianism, and symbolic racism. Younger age, conservatism, and higher scores on all individual differences were significant predictors of agreement with the conservative (anti-BLM) tweet. Having more education, holding liberal beliefs, and lower levels of symbolic racism were predictors of agreement with the liberal (pro-BLM) tweet. Overall, we demonstrate that factors explaining participants’ likelihood to endorse (clicking like or retweet) the conservative tweet continue to change, but the factors predicting endorsement of the liberal tweet, including the role of symbolic racism, remain consistent. The study informs academics and practitioners in understanding how various factors impact an individual’s information processing of racially conscious social movements.