Who are the 'progressive activists' that have taken over our institutions?
This small group of woke radicals comprises less than 10 per cent of the population
The think tank More In Common published an interesting report into the views of ‘progressive activists’ this week. It’s a vital read for anyone trying to make sense of today’s rapidly changing politcal landscape. Rather than falling back on outdated references to ‘left’ and ‘right’, the report divides the public into seven distinct categories from progressive activists to disengaged traditionalists.
For now, they are focusing on the progressive activists and what they discover manages to be both unsurprising but also shocking. First, there’s the finding that people in this group - often vocal about demonstrating compassion and being kind - are less likely to work with their political opponents than any other group and are more likely to think those holding different views have been misled.
This contempt was first made clear in response to the UK’s referendum result. Forty per cent of Remain voters claimed they would feel ‘upset’ if their son or daughter married a Leave voter, compared to just 10 per cent the other way round. 2025’s shocking update to this intolerance suggests that 27 per cent of progressive activists would not campaign alongside somebody who believes in Israel’s right to exist. To be clear - that’s not campaigning for peace in the Middle East - but on any issue.
So who are these ‘progressive activists’? What do they believe? And how did they become so influential?
The More In Common report provides some answers.
First up, progressive activists make up around 8-10% of the UK population. So they’re a small group but they clearly punch well above their weight when it comes to political influence. They tend to be younger and more highly educated than the average citizen (46% hold degrees, with 20% having postgraduate qualifications). They disproportionately work in academia, the culture industries and the charity sector. They have higher than average salaries but, because of skewing younger, are more likely to have student loans and less likely to own property so are less wealthy overall than some other groups.
But it is when we turn to politics that the differences between this group and the rest of society really beging to emerge. Progressive activists are twice as likely as others to express shame in being British and they are overwhelmingly critical of the British Empire’s legacy. They are the only group that strongly supports maintaining or increasing immigration levels. On gender issues, 79% of progressive activists believe children should be allowed to change their gender, far more than even the next most supportive groups.
Progressive activists are the only group that thinks protecting people from hate speech should be prioritised over free speech, and they are more likely than other groups to believe that some issues should not be subject to debate at all. Around half support restricting certain discussions, compared to just a third of the general public. Alongside this, they are much more supportive of disruptive forms of protest, like those of Just Stop Oil.
Although this group’s opinions differ strikingly from the rest of the population, they are not shy when it comes to expressing their views. Around 56% of progressive activists share political content online, compared to just 14% of the general population. They are also happier engaging in political debates with colleagues in the workplace than other groups. For this group more than any other, politics is central to their identity.
The combination of sharing views prolifically while inhabiting an echo chamber means that progressive activists tend to overestimate public support for their causes, often by two or three times. On issues from climate change to transgender rights and immigration, progressive activists think that their views are not extreme but shared by a significant proportion of the population.
Progressive activists wield so much influence because they dominate key cultural industries from education through to museums, art galleries, the media and charities. They also dominate discussion on social media and so find their views reflected in newspaper columns and on television debates. This creates an illusion of broader public support for their views, furthering the sense that they are more popular than they actually are. To exacerbate this divide they tend to view those who do not share their views, particularly on issues like immigration, as racist rather than worried about economic or social change.
For politics to be brought more in line with the views of the public, we need to lessen the influence of these progressive activists. To this end, it is useful for everyone to remember that this group is a small minority of the overall population and their views are highly unrepresentative. Given the impact of DOGE in the US, it would be interesting to work out how many progressive activists work in the public sector or for charities and organisations, including the BBC, that receive funding from tax-payers. Progressive activists may be happy bringing their views to work but the general public should not have to pay for the privilege of being subjected to them. Likewise, progressive activists may shy away from free and open debate but the rest of us must insist upon it at every turn.