News influencers posted about Donald Trump twice as frequently as Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election cycle, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of over 150,000 social media posts from 500 news influencers.
The research examines posts from summer and fall 2024, revealing distinct patterns in how different types of influencers covered the candidates.
While 90% of news influencers mentioned Trump and 86% mentioned Harris at least once during the study period, Trump appeared in 12% of all posts compared to Harris’ 6%.
Source: Pew-Knight Initiative
Platform Distribution and Political Leanings
X dominated campaign coverage, hosting 79% of all posts about either candidate. The platform skewed toward right-leaning voices, with 48% of candidate mentions coming from right-leaning influencers compared to 28% from left-leaning ones.
TikTok presents a reverse pattern, with 45% of candidate mentions coming from left-leaning influencers. Posts about Trump on TikTok were predominantly critical (54%) versus supportive (19%), while Harris coverage was more balanced (31% critical, 35% supportive).
Right-leaning influencers demonstrated higher posting frequency, averaging 183 posts per week with 21 Trump mentions, while left-leaning influencers averaged 72 posts weekly with 12 Harris mentions.
Industry Background Impact
Most news influencers (77%) have no past or present affiliation with news organizations. Those with newsroom experience showed more critical coverage of Trump while maintaining neutral positions on Harris. Influencers without news industry connections were more critical of Harris while remaining relatively balanced in Trump coverage.
Source: Pew-Knight Initiative
Post-Election Shifts
The week following Election Day (November 5-11) saw significant changes in coverage tone. Critical coverage of Harris dropped 6 percentage points to 36%, while Trump criticism fell 18 points to 24%. Support for Trump increased slightly from 28% to 35%, while Harris’s support declined to 9%.
Left-leaning influencers’ support for Harris decreased dramatically post-election, falling from 75% to 31%. Right-leaning influencers consistently supported Trump, shifting only slightly from 69% to 72%.
Both political sides showed reduced criticism of opposing candidates after the election. Left-leaning influencers’ criticism of Trump dropped to 61%, while right-leaning influencers’ criticism of Harris declined to an identical 61% – representing more than a 20-point decrease for both groups.
The study reveals that 27% of analyzed influencers express right-leaning views, while 21% identify as left-leaning, and 48% show no clear political orientation. Influencers without clear political leanings were more likely to criticize Trump (42%) than Harris (26%).
During the pre-election period, posts about Harris were twice as likely to be critical (38%) as supportive (19%), while Trump posts showed a more even distribution between critical (31%) and supportive (27%) coverage. Approximately four in ten influencers who mentioned either candidate (42%) were more critical than supportive, while about a quarter were more supportive (28% for Trump, 24% for Harris).
Pew Research Center previously reported that 21% of Americans regularly receive news from social media creators. The trend is particularly pronounced among younger adults, as 37% of those between 18 and 29 regularly turn to these creators for news content.
A recent UNESCO study, however, found that only 36.9% of digital content creators verify information before sharing it with their audiences
David Adler is an entrepreneur and freelance blog post writer who enjoys writing about business, entrepreneurship, travel and the influencer marketing space.
Economics Explained—YouTube’s largest economics channel—recently premiered a feature-length documentary on CuriosityStream featuring interviews with former White...
News influencers posted about Donald Trump twice as frequently as Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election cycle, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of over 150,000 social media posts from 500 news influencers.
The research examines posts from summer and fall 2024, revealing distinct patterns in how different types of influencers covered the candidates.
While 90% of news influencers mentioned Trump and 86% mentioned Harris at least once during the study period, Trump appeared in 12% of all posts compared to Harris’ 6%.
Source: Pew-Knight Initiative
Platform Distribution and Political Leanings
X dominated campaign coverage, hosting 79% of all posts about either candidate. The platform skewed toward right-leaning voices, with 48% of candidate mentions coming from right-leaning influencers compared to 28% from left-leaning ones.
TikTok presents a reverse pattern, with 45% of candidate mentions coming from left-leaning influencers. Posts about Trump on TikTok were predominantly critical (54%) versus supportive (19%), while Harris coverage was more balanced (31% critical, 35% supportive).
Right-leaning influencers demonstrated higher posting frequency, averaging 183 posts per week with 21 Trump mentions, while left-leaning influencers averaged 72 posts weekly with 12 Harris mentions.
Industry Background Impact
Most news influencers (77%) have no past or present affiliation with news organizations. Those with newsroom experience showed more critical coverage of Trump while maintaining neutral positions on Harris. Influencers without news industry connections were more critical of Harris while remaining relatively balanced in Trump coverage.
Source: Pew-Knight Initiative
Post-Election Shifts
The week following Election Day (November 5-11) saw significant changes in coverage tone. Critical coverage of Harris dropped 6 percentage points to 36%, while Trump criticism fell 18 points to 24%. Support for Trump increased slightly from 28% to 35%, while Harris’s support declined to 9%.
Left-leaning influencers’ support for Harris decreased dramatically post-election, falling from 75% to 31%. Right-leaning influencers consistently supported Trump, shifting only slightly from 69% to 72%.
Both political sides showed reduced criticism of opposing candidates after the election. Left-leaning influencers’ criticism of Trump dropped to 61%, while right-leaning influencers’ criticism of Harris declined to an identical 61% – representing more than a 20-point decrease for both groups.
The study reveals that 27% of analyzed influencers express right-leaning views, while 21% identify as left-leaning, and 48% show no clear political orientation. Influencers without clear political leanings were more likely to criticize Trump (42%) than Harris (26%).
During the pre-election period, posts about Harris were twice as likely to be critical (38%) as supportive (19%), while Trump posts showed a more even distribution between critical (31%) and supportive (27%) coverage. Approximately four in ten influencers who mentioned either candidate (42%) were more critical than supportive, while about a quarter were more supportive (28% for Trump, 24% for Harris).
The full report is available here.
Pew Research Center previously reported that 21% of Americans regularly receive news from social media creators. The trend is particularly pronounced among younger adults, as 37% of those between 18 and 29 regularly turn to these creators for news content.
A recent UNESCO study, however, found that only 36.9% of digital content creators verify information before sharing it with their audiences