Pew Research Center

New Report out today: America's News Influencers https://lnkd.in/gi9tbTED We do a deep dive into the news influencers that are driving a lot of our political discussion as well as the people who regularly get news from them. It's chock full of really cool findings, but some of my favorite: - News influencers are mostly men (63%), have no connection to the news industry (77%), and are mostly on X (85%) - Slight lean to the political right among news influencers (27% vs 21%), though we couldn't determine this for 48% - About 1 in 5 Americans regularly gets news from news influencers. That rises to 37% of 18-29 yos - And these audiences tend to have good experiences: 65% say news influencers?help them better understand current events, while 70% say that news is at least somewhat different than news they would get elsewhere - Democrats and Republicans tend to regularly get news from news influencers at roughly equal rates (22% D / 21% R) There is so, so much more in this report. It's a big, multi-method look at this important hart of the political landscape, and it tackles questions about news influencers from the supply and demand side. It is the latest Pew Research Center Report from the Pew-Knight Initiative. Giant thanks to everyone who pulled this across the finish line! Luxuan Wang, Ph.D. in particular

I spoke with KMOX | Audacy in St. Louis recently about the perceptions and realities of dangerous driving in the US. More than 46,000 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2022, up substantially from the pre-pandemic times. Fatal crashes involving hit-and-run drivers and speeding are more common, and there's been a substantial increase in the number of people injured or killed in road rage shootings. Many Americans have noticed: 49% say people in their community are driving more dangerously than before the pandemic, and 27% say they see road rage incidents extremely or very often. https://lnkd.in/ev9Q-QRq

Following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, Democrats’ pessimism about their party’s future is now higher than at any point over the last eight years. By contrast, Republicans’ optimism is at its highest point since 2016, including after Trump’s election win eight years ago.

About 1-in-5 Americans regularly get news from influencers on social media today. But what is a news influencer and how do they engage with their audiences? We define news influencers as individuals who routinely post about current events or civic issues and have at least 100,000 followers on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X or YouTube. To better understand them, we analyzed 500 of these individuals across these five sites. Here’s what we found: https://lnkd.in/eE4S8R-d

As the busiest shopping season of the year gets underway, TikTok is a go-to place for product reviews and recommendations. And this is especially true for young women who use the platform. https://pewrsr.ch/3YXxpyN

Following Donald Trump’s victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election, Americans narrowly approve of the president-elect’s plans and policies for the future. Roughly half of U.S. adults (53%) approve of his plans, while 46% disapprove. https://pewrsr.ch/4fDuZfR

About half of Americans (49%) say people in their area are driving more dangerously than before the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new Center survey. What publicly available data there is on the subject suggests those perceptions may be right, at least in some ways. https://pewrsr.ch/4fW7UET

The internet represents a fundamental shift in how Americans connect with one another, gather information and conduct their day-to-day lives. Explore the patterns of internet and home broadband adoption below.

Less than 1% of all accounts followed by U.S. adult TikTok users belong to politicians or journalists. So what are Americans watching? More than half of the accounts followed by U.S. adults on TikTok posted about pop culture or entertainment. By comparison, posts related to news and politics are quite rare. And when they are posted, news and political contents are more likely to be included in between other topics, like pop culture or humor. Explore more: https://lnkd.in/djfe4pYg

American workers’ opinions on the role of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the workplace have become more negative since last year. Compared with February 2023, workers are now somewhat more likely to say: - Focusing on increasing DEI at work is mainly a bad thing (21%, up from 16% in 2023). - Their company or organization pays too much attention to increasing DEI (19% up from 14%). Still, American adults overall say DEI practices help rather than hurt Black, Hispanic and Asian men and women, as well as White women.