While those who get news on Twitter tend to be more positive about, and engaged with, the content on the site than other Twitter users, there are differences between political parties within the broader group of Twitter news consumers. In general, Democrats who get news on Twitter offer more positive assessments of the amount and accuracy of that news than their Republican counterparts.
This partisan difference in trust among Twitter news consumers mirrors partisan gaps in trust of the news media overall. Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents who get news on Twitter are more likely to say they trust the accuracy of the news and information there at least some (74% say this). Republicans (including leaners) who get news on Twitter, on the other hand, are about evenly split on this question – 52% say they have at least some trust in the information they see on Twitter, but 48% say they trust it “not much” or “not at all.”
This high level of trust among Democrats who get news on Twitter is driven by liberal Democrats: 83% say they trust the news on Twitter at least some, compared with 59% of Democrats who describe themselves as moderate or conservative. Republican news consumers have a similar level of trust in the information they find on Twitter regardless of their self-described political ideology.
Republican news consumers, for their part, are more likely to be worn out by the sheer amount of news they see on the site. Among Twitter news consumers, nearly half of Republicans (46%) say they are worn out by the amount of news there, while fewer among their Democratic counterparts (25%) say this. Three-quarters of Democrats who get news on Twitter say they like the amount of news there is on the site.
Democrats also are slightly more likely than Republicans to see the site as an important source of news. Nearly three-quarters of Democrats who get news on Twitter (72%) say that the site is an important way, or the most important way, that they get news, versus 56% of their Republican counterparts.
Finally, there is disagreement among news consumers over Twitter’s impact on society. Among Twitter news consumers, 63% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say Twitter is mostly bad for American democracy. Democratic news consumers (and leaners), meanwhile, are more likely to say Twitter is mostly good for American democracy: 54% say this, versus 26% who say it is mostly bad.
