The research project backed by the Pew-Knight Initiative aims at comprehending the manner in which U.S. citizens adopt civic information, nurture their convictions and identities, and participate in communal activities. As a nonpartisan entity, the Pew Research Center employs its capabilities to enlighten the populace about pressing issues, societal perspectives and the evolving trends around the globe. Right alongside is the Knight Foundation which functions as a societal financier striving to back informed and actively involved communities.
A noteworthy fraction of Americans, approximately one-fifth, claim that their regular source of news is the social media influencers. An estimated two-thirds from this group affirm that this information assists them in gaining a clearer understanding of current affairs. These influencers are identified as individuals who continually upload posts about current events and civil matters on social platforms, boasting a follower count exceeding 100,000 on at least one of platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, the rebranded X (formerly Twitter), or YouTube.
Such influencers, accordingly, can either be professional journalists associated with a news entity, or independent content creators. However, the key determinant remains that they are individual persons and not institutions. These influencers, were largely discussing about political figures Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, adopting a balanced approach in their criticism of both the candidates, as indicated by the Pew Research Center’s analysis of over 150,000 posts taken from 500 such influencers, published during the summer and fall of 2024.
An interesting observation was the higher number of posts relating to Donald Trump, particularly due to right-leaning influencers being more active in their posts compared to their left-leaning counterparts. To delve deeper into this trend, the analysis stretched further to inspect the influencers’ stance on Trump and Harris throughout the presidential campaigns in the summer and fall of 2024.
Modern tools like human validated large language models were utilized to discern whether the posts under review revealed more support, expressed more criticism or maintained a neutral position regarding each candidate. A remarkable episode during the first week of the pre-election phase that was covered in these posts involved a failed assassination attempt on the then candidate Trump during a campaign rally.
Other significant occurrences during this period included the Republican National Convention and subsequently Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race. Inclusion of these events led to the focus of the analysis being prominently on Trump and Harris instead of Biden. The recurring themes of the following weeks were the Democratic National Convention and the final week leading up to Election Day, marking the completion of campaigning.
Further analysis was conducted into the manner in which influencers exhibited support, cast critiques or sustained neutrality in posts involving the candidates. The criterion for influencers being considered ‘supportive’ of a candidate was as simple as having double the amount of posts in favor of that candidate than against them. Similarly negative ratios resulted in influencers being classified as ‘critical’.
Close to 40% of news influencers referring to either Trump or Harris adopted a more critical stance in their posts regarding the candidates. Interestingly, about a quarter were more supportive for each candidate with 28% for Trump and 24% for Harris reflecting a slightly pro-Trump sentiment.
Contrasting views emerged when analyzing posts about Harris and Trump separately. Posts about Harris were twofold in their criticism compared to the support for her (38% vs. 19%). On the other hand, posts featuring Trump presented a more even distribution with 31% critical compared to 27% offering support.
A significant finding pertained to the platform preference of influencers during the 2024 election season. The dominant share of the posts by influencers mentioning either Trump or Harris were found on X, previously known as Twitter, accounting for a remarkable 79% of the total. Comparatively, no other social networking site managed to generate more than a tenth of posts by news influencers about either candidate.
Almost half (48%) of the posts on X that referred to either Trump or Harris were published by right-leaning influencers. While news influencers without an apparent political inclination were not markedly supportive of either candidate, a slight bias emerged in their criticisms favoring Trump over Harris.
Following the closing of polling stations and the announcement of electoral results, the influencers displayed a shift in their narrative, toning down their criticisms of the candidates and transitioning towards more supportive commentary on the newly elected president.
Looking at the specifics of this shift, during the week of Nov. 5-11 (which comprises Election Day and the subsequent six days), influencers exhibiting criticism of Harris reduced from previously 6 percent. As for Trump, only 24% who mentioned him in their posts showed criticisms, experiencing a considerable drop of 18 points. It was, however, observed that a minuscule percentage (9%) were openly supportive of Harris post her election loss.
Interestingly, the share of influencers expressing support for Trump saw an increment moving from 28% to 35% post-election. This clearly indicated a warmer acceptance of Trump even post elections amongst the influencer community.
Another shift post elections was observed in the attitude of influencers of diverging political viewpoints. Left- and right-leaning news influencers began diluting their criticism against the respective opposing candidate. This was evidenced by the fact that around six-in-ten left-leaning influencers maintained their criticism of Trump post elections (61%), while a mirrored picture was displayed by right-leaning influencers against Harris.