News influencers favored Trump over Harris during campaign, study finds

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Media Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans who followed quality influencers during the statesmanlike run were much apt to perceive affirmative reports astir Donald Trump than they were astir Kamala Harris, a survey has revealed.

Influencers reviewed by the Pew Research Center talked astir Trump and Harris connected societal media astir equally, but determination were much posts astir Trump and they tended to beryllium much favorable.

Pew said astir 20% of Americans regularly get quality from influencers — podcasters, commentators and the similar — and astir two-thirds said it helps them amended recognize things. Pew analyzed much than 150,000 posts from astir 500 influencers, defined arsenic those who regularly remark connected existent events and person astatine slightest 100,000 followers connected immoderate operation of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X oregon YouTube.

Trump courted this youth-oriented assemblage much actively than Harris did during the campaign. He was interviewed by the fashionable podcaster Joe Rogan, for example, portion Harris did not get an quality there.

The survey recovered an adjacent magnitude of influencers — 42% — were captious of either the Republican oregon Democratic campaigner for president.

Yet Trump earned his borderline successful volume; his supporters posted much often than Harris’. As an example, doubly arsenic galore full posts astir Harris connected the Elon Musk-owned X tract were captious than they were positive, portion the ratio for Trump was much evenly split, Pew said.

And X is wherever astir of the governmental influencers lived. Pew recovered that 79% of the governmental posts were connected that site. On X, 48% of the influencers who posted determination identified themselves arsenic right-leaning, portion 28% said they were much liberal.

On average, right-leaning quality influencers posted 183 times per week. The much wide ones posted 72 times connected average, Pew said.

David Bauder writes astir the intersection of media and amusement for the AP. Follow him astatine http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social