Democrats are grappling with how to up their game on social media following an election cycle where they acknowledged they were trounced by Republicans on platforms like X, Instagram, and YouTube.

In recent focus groups and polls, Democrats have pressed for answers on why they failed to connect with voters on the platforms in 2024. So far, they have concluded it was both a message and messenger problem. But political observers say that Democrats were also missing the mark on social media.

New polling by the Democratic super PAC Unite the Country, for example, revealed that social media is the third most popular way for voters to get their news. But Democratic spending on social media pales in comparison to the consistency and efficacy of Republican efforts online.

“There's a twofold problem,” said Democratic strategist Steve Schale, who is also the CEO of Unite the Country. “I think they're light-years ahead of us. … But also, I think … we're not trusted by enough voters in enough parts of the country to be able to push back.”

Elizabeth Sena, the Democratic pollster who conducted the survey for Unite the Country, said this disparity counts social media and other modes of communication, like cable TV and online news sites. Sena also said Unite the Country’s poll showed the “fractured environment” in which people receive information.

“People get information multiple different ways, and being able to access all of those different ways … is one of the things that Republicans did well,” she said. “They hit all of the different channels.”

President Trump’s campaign was backed by an army of already established conservative influencers and podcasters, such as Tucker Carlson, Charlie Kirk and Theo Von, among many others, who........

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