Republican members of US Congress focus more on China in social media posts, study says
- Democrats posted more about attacks on Asian-Americans, while Republicans zeroed in on China’s negative behaviour and attributes, Pew Research Centre study says
- ‘You don’t see a lot of middle ground, it’s either one extreme or the other’
There may be a bipartisan consensus on tougher US policy toward China, but Republican lawmakers tend to focus on China’s negative behaviour and attributes, employing terms like “propaganda”, “spy” and “lie” on social media, according to a Pew Research Centre analysis.
The report released on Wednesday also found that a relatively small number of Republicans accounted for the majority of postings, often hammering away repeatedly at the same themes. Meanwhile, Democratic counterparts focused more on attacks on Asian-Americans.
“It’s not a coincidence that Republicans showed a lot of interest since 2019 in China and Democrats on Asian-American issues,” said Federico de Jesus, founder of FDJ Solutions, a political and communications consultancy.
“Republican members of Congress not only want to cater to Trump. They also want to persuade their people that they’re not being a wuss [on China] even as they end up spreading conspiracy theories.”
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According to the Pew study, just 56 lawmakers out of 535 in Congress generated 16,060 posts mentioning China or the Chinese people from January 2020 through April 2021. Of those 56, 54 were Republican.