Politics & Media

True crime is the most common topic, making up 24% of top-ranked podcasts; 15% of the top podcasts focus on news. The next most common topics are politics and government (10%); entertainment, pop culture and the arts (9%); and self-help and relationships (8%).

57% of U.S. journalists surveyed say they are extremely or very concerned about potential restrictions on press freedoms in the country.

Roughly half of U.S. adults say they have listened to a podcast in the past year, including one-in-five who report listening at least a few times a week. Most podcast listeners say this experience includes hearing news, which they largely expect to be mostly accurate. Large shares of listeners say they turn to podcasts for entertainment, learning or having something to listen to while doing something else.

About one-in-ten U.S. adults have heard of Gab, an alternative social media site, and 1% say that they get news there regularly.

74% of Republicans say social media has been more of a bad thing for U.S. democracy, compared with a smaller majority of Democrats (57%).

Most think social media has made it easier to manipulate and divide people, but they also say it informs and raises awareness.

With Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential bid now officially underway, here are key facts about Truth Social and its users.

One-in-five federal, state and local candidate tweets in 2022 have mentioned race, abortion, education or the economy.

In recent years, several new options have emerged in the social media universe, many of which explicitly present themselves as alternatives to more established social media platforms. Free speech ideals and heated political themes prevail on these sites, which draw praise from their users and skepticism from other Americans.

55% of journalists surveyed say that every side does not always deserve equal coverage in the news. 22% of Americans overall say the same.