I believe that social media is playing a large role in the decline of mental health as shown by this polling. From the data it looks like both groups are trending in the wrong direction, with "liberals" (I would call them leftists) more affected. That isn't surprising as liberals are more likely to be young and young people are more likely to use (especially the most pernicious) social media regularly.

Many of the poll questions relate directly to perceived self worth or ability. It isn't hard to see how social media attacks those directly. Just as an example let's say you play a musical instrument. Prior to social media you would likely gauge your proficiency based on your immediate peer group, school, church, or maybe local bands. And that measurement would be against real performances including all of the many takes, foibles, and failures those entail. If you were any good at all you were likely to compare at least a little favorably in those situations and thus derive a sense of self worth and competence from your instrument.

However, the advent of social media has dramatically altered this dynamic. It has blown up our perception of talent and worth. Now, we're constantly exposed to a highlight reel of curated performances, beauty, and success. Social media shows individuals who appear similar to use but seem to effortlessly do whatever we're trying to do infinitely better than we do it.

The curated nature of posts and the exceptional talent routinely displayed distort our understanding of what is truly remarkable and rare. As a result, our perception of what it actually is to be talented or successful at anything is skyrocketing and, by comparison, our view of our own talents or success must diminish. Social media has inadvertently created an environment where we constantly measure ourselves against a distorted reality, leading to feelings of inadequacy and diminished self-esteem.