Dear friend,

If you are reading this, you are probably a Progressive Activist. Of the people who have taken our British Seven segments quiz online, this is easily the most common segment - even though they represent less than 10 per cent of Britain’s population.

In the last few years, our work has tended to focus on explaining and understanding the perspectives of more disengaged and low trust segments, who often find themselves overlooked or neglected by debates in Whitehall and Westminster and unhappy with the status quo.

Our new report is slightly different - a deep dive into the most politically engaged segment, the Progressive Activists. 

Progressive Activists’ passion for advocacy and driving social change is often a driver of social progress and their work forms the backbone of much of the UK’s campaigning and advocacy work. However the cultural pendulum is now swinging against Progressive Activists - and some of their campaigns now appear to be driving backlash rather than increasing enthusiasm for their causes.

Of-the-moment political analysis tends to overly exaggerate and extrapolate trends, and the current turn against liberal progressivism is more likely to be a thermostatic course correction than the start of conservative hegemony, if precedent is anything to go by.

Nonetheless with centre-left Governments struggling globally and a series of progressive causes seemingly on the back foot it is worth reflecting on why progressives are struggling to win people over to their cause. 

Our report explores why this group’s approach to politics and in particular to the persuasion of others may inadvertently be triggering ‘culture war’ dynamics rather than building big tent movements for change.

Drawing on a survey of over 1,000 Progressive Activists and comparing it with representative polling of the wider public we look at what motivates Progressive Activists, what makes their world view unique, and why they might be struggling to build and motivate larger coalitions for change.

There is plenty more information in the report, but here are the key points:

Progressive Activists are far apart from the rest of the country on many social issues. While Progressive Activists are close to other segments in many of their views on the economy - including with more socially conservative segments, they are outliers on cultural issues. Progressive Activists are more than twice as likely than the rest of the country to say they are ashamed to be British and are the only segment to say that Britain should be ashamed of the legacy of the British Empire. Progressive Activists are also the only segment in which a majority say we should increase or maintain levels of immigration and of refugees coming to the UK. They are also far more likely (81%) to attribute concerns about immigration to racism, whereas only 34% of the rest of the public agree.

Clearly there is nothing wrong with having outlier views - but Progressive Activists also overestimate how many people share their views on social issues, which means that when seeking to drive change, they are more likely to campaign on strategies to activate an already engaged base, rather than to persuade a more agnostic one.

Some progressive framing puts people off their causes. As an example of Progressive Activists tendency to focus on ‘in group approval’ above persuasion,’ the language used by Progressive Activists is popular with other Progressive Activists but can fall flat with other segments. For example, the persistence of racial discrimination is recognised across society, but the concept of white privilege is not. Using framings which reinforce ‘us versus them’ dynamics undermines support for progressive causes.  

Progressive Activists are less likely to make space for debate. Progressive Activists are unique amongst the seven segments in their greater likelihood to believe that certain viewpoints are not a legitimate feature of democratic debate. They are the only segment in which a majority (51 per cent) believe some viewpoints are too harmful to be given space in democratic debate, compared to just 33 per cent across other groups. This, and the fact they are the only segment to believe that it is more important to protect marginalised groups from hate speech than to defend free speech.

Progressive Activists have a tendency to require comprehensive ideological alignment in their campaigns. In fact, public opinion rarely aligns perfectly along fixed ideological lines. For example, many support climate action while opposing immigration, or favour decriminalisation of drugs while supporting capital punishment. Yet nearly half of Progressive Activists would be unwilling to campaign for a cause they believe in alongside a Conservative, 40 per cent would not campaign alongside someone who is an evangelical Christian, even if they agreed with them on the issue at hand. . By limiting potential allies to those who are completely ideological alignment, progressive movements artificially limit their potential support base. Perhaps most jarring 27 per cent would not campaign alongside someone who supports Israel’s right to exist

More extreme protests have been at the expense of building public support. Progressive Activists and the general public view protest differently. Sixty five per cent of the public say road blocking is never an acceptable form of protest, compared to only a quarter of Progressive Activists. When protesters clash with police, Progressive Activists typically blame police while the public as a whole sides with law enforcement. Progressive Activists are the only group who are more likely to say Just Stop Oil is a force for good not for bad.

Progressive Activists also have unique expectations when it comes to the workplace which can occasionally lead to challenging dynamics around organisational neutrality. They include:

• Expectation for corporate activism: 68% believe businesses should take public stands on political issues, even if unrelated to their industry. When presented with a hypothetical example, 47% said a UK mental health charity should speak out on Gaza, compared to just 18% of the wider public.
• Support for workplace disruption: Progressive Activists are twice as likely as other groups to say that actions like anonymous petitions, staff protests, or leaking information are always appropriate when they disagree with management.
• Higher likelihood of workplace political conflicts: More vocal progressives are 20 points more likely than the general population (48% vs. 28%) to believe they should challenge coworkers’ political views.

There’s plenty more information in the report - including interviews with CEOs who run progressive organisations on how they get the best out of their progressive staff. We hope you find it interesting and are looking forward to hearing your reflections on it.

If you work in a campaigning organisation or in a company where you think this research might be relevant, we would love to come and talk to you and your colleagues. Do email ed@moreincommon.com if you think that might be useful to you.

All the best,

Luke

Luke Tryl
Executive Director
More in Common UK