A new study from the University of Cambridge has found that during political crises, social media users shift from outrage to messages of unity and solidarity, regardless of political affiliation. The research, set to be published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analysed over 62,000 Facebook posts from US politicians, commentators and media outlets.
After the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, Republican-aligned posts signalling unity saw a 53 per cent increase in engagement, a 17 percentage point rise compared to before the shooting. Conversely, posts attacking Democrats saw a 23 percentage point drop. Similarly, after Joe Biden dropped out of the election race, Democratic posts expressing solidarity received 91 per cent more engagement than those that did not, a 71 percentage point jump.
Dr Jon Roozenbeek, senior author and Lecturer in Psychology at Cambridge, said: 'We didn’t know whether moments of political crisis would trigger solidarity in a country as polarised as the US. But even here, group unity surged when leadership was threatened.'
The findings echo a 2023 Cambridge study of 1.6 million Ukrainian social media posts after Russia’s invasion, which saw a spike in 'ingroup solidarity' posts, with 92 per cent more engagement on Facebook and 68 per cent on Twitter. Posts hostile to Russia received little extra engagement.
Lead author Malia Marks, a PhD candidate, noted: 'Negative emotions like anger are usually rocket fuel for engagement. But we found the opposite. Political crises evoke ingroup love over outgroup hate.' The study suggests social media can produce a 'rally-round-the-flag' effect during crises.
