Sociologist Dana Fisher studies protests for a living and her work has never been more exciting than at this very moment. After living five years in Washington and never seeing what's considered a large-scale progressive protest of 50,000-plus on the Mall, the University of Maryland professor has been binge watching the near-weekly heat in the streets ever since the National Women's March.
Her observations, reported in the Washington Post, include nuggets about protest demographics such as participants voted for Hillary by anywhere from 82 to 90 percent and more than three-quarters of marchers have earned a Bachelor's degree or higher while in the general population just one out of three Americans have. But the meat of her studies in terms of long-term political implications comes here:
Protesters are mobilizing in new ways — many of them for the first time.
The Women's March, the March for Science and the Peoples Climate March all brought out large numbers of first-time demonstrators. About a third of the people at the first two events had never been to a protest before, and a quarter of those at Saturday's march said it was their first protest.
And the people joining the movements aren't being recruited in traditional ways. Usually, people will attend a protest because a friend or family member recommends it, or because they are part of an organization that is participating. But in recent months, Facebook was cited more often than any other source when Fisher asked people how they heard about a march. Many of those surveyed were not members of any of the hundreds of partner groups that helped orchestrate the events.
“Across the board, the marches are bringing out not just new people but people who are not members of those coalitions,” Fisher said. “People who are really new to participating in anything.”
That’s a whole lot of new energy, folks—not just first-time marchers or organizers, more like total political newcomers. That’s an awakening.
While protesters’ main motivations are often united around Trump, they are also unified in demonstrating support for a wider array of causes. Fisher said that, in the past, marchers she's surveyed have typically chosen one reason like "Equality" or "Racial Justice" or the "Environment" among a list that had drawn them out.
But at recent marches, “I asked about the issues that mobilized them, and they were just like, 'All of them. Across the board, I’m here because of all of them,' ” Fisher said.
She added that the protest fervor doesn't yet appear to be losing momentum. For instance, 70 percent of those at the People's Climate March had also participated in the Women's March. Instead of seeing protest fatigue setting in, a certain pro-mentum has take over.
Does this signal a shift in how Americans participate in democracy? “The only answer I can give you is, I hope so,” Fisher replied.