Wikipedians by Political Party
I became intrigued when reading that Jimmy Wales believes Wikipedia editors are disproportionately liberal. Various sources have claimed that Wikipedia has a liberal bias.
I decided to see if Jimmy Wales' claim was verifiable. I added the number of Wikipedians who self-identified in the political categories below. And compared them to the general American population who self-identified their political affiliations with the highly reputable electionstudies.org in 2004.
| Political Category | Members |
|---|---|
| Category:Apolitical_Wikipedians | 57 |
| Category:Communist_Wikipedians | 47 |
| Category:Socialist_Wikipedians | 58 |
| Category:Liberal_Wikipedians | 199 |
| Category:Democratic (US) Wikipedians | 81 |
| Category:Social_Libertarian_Wikipedians | 185 |
| Category:Libertarian_Wikipedians | 196 |
| Category:Conservative_Wikipedians | 68 |
| Category:Republican (US) Wikipedians | 10 |
| Total | 901 |
| Wikipedians by Political Affiliation | No# | Pcnt% |
|---|---|---|
| Apolitical | 57 | 6.33% |
| Conservative, Republican | 78 | 8.66% |
| Libertarian, Social Libertarian | 381 | 42.29% |
| Communist, Socialist, Liberal, Democrat | 385 | 42.73% |
| Americans by Political Affiliation (2004) [1] | Pcnt% |
|---|---|
| Republican | 41% |
| Democrat | 49% |
| Independent | 10% |
| Libertarian* | unk |
* The Cato Institute speculates that as many as 13% of Americans hold Libertarian beliefs. However, it should be noted that The Cato Institute is run by Libertarians, and is therefore a potentially biased source!
My Conclusions
- Liberal and "Leftist" Wikipedians are roughly proportionate to the US population.
- Libertarians are overwhelmingly over-represented.
- Conservative Wikipedians are dramatically under-represented.
I've now written the full story at my blog: http://blog.valuewiki.com/2007/02/26/does-wikipedia-have-a-liberal-bias/