Social Media Disinformation Influenced U.S. Election Result

Latinos, young men, non-college-educated white people, suburban women — exit polls often focus on shifting behaviors in these demographic groups but overlook a key factor: where people get their information.

Some of the largest shifts in voting behavior this election came from young people and Latinos, two groups with unique media habits.

Steven Waldman, president of Rebuild Local News and co-founder of Report for America, wrote in Politico that a revolution in how information flows has transformed U.S. elections.

While recent exit polls didn’t ask about media consumption, earlier NBC polling from April showed a striking pattern: among people who got their news from newspapers, Biden led 70-21, while Trump led 55-39 among YouTube/Google news consumers.

Some of the largest shifts in voting behavior this election came from young people and Latinos, two groups with unique media habits. Biden won 18- to 21-year-olds 60-36%, while Harris won 55-42%.

Younger and Latino voters are also disproportionately likely to use social media for news, potentially influencing voter patterns more significantly than in 2020. In 2024, 32% of adults got their news from YouTube (up from 23% in 2020), while TikTok use jumped from 3% to 17%.