Democrats seek to close social media gap with GOP, Trump

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 successfully sold their broad audiences on Trump. Clips from their shows also circulated all over social media, allowing them to go viral — and reach new parts of the electorate in some cases.

In the three-and-a-half years before November 2024, Republicans consistently outspent Democrats on social media until the party poured in $30 million right before Election Day, as revealed in a report last year by the Democratic super PAC Tech for Campaigns. The report showed that while Democratic campaigns typically outspent Republican efforts on social media, Republicans focused their funding more effectively on persuasion and mobilization content as opposed to fundraising pleas.

Most recently, on the heels of the New York City mayoral primary, Democrats have pointed to Zohran Mamdani, the progressive upstart-turned-party nominee, as an example of how Democratic campaigns can leverage the power of social media. 

Mamdani, relying predominantly on Instagram and TikTok, clawed his way from obscurity to winning the primary. He amassed his own following of more than 4.5 million across the two platforms and collaborated with various social media influencers in New York City throughout his campaign. 

Political observers say the strategy put him on the radars of young, first-time voters and created an energy around his campaign that motivated voters to the polls.

Mamdani drove home his message of affordability on social media and frequently tried to draw the contrast between himself and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), his main competition in the race. 

In a 30-second video posted to his Instagram and TikTok accounts four days before Election Day, Mamdani could be seen walking with his sleeves rolled up surrounded by a crowd of his supporters delivering a message directly to voters.

“Everyone knows what’s on the ballot this June 24th,” he said in the post, which has upward of 1.5 million views across Instagram and TikTok. “It's whether we can actually afford the city that we call our home, and our campaign is fighting exactly for that.” 

“We’re fighting through the most amount of money that has ever been spent by a super PAC in New York City municipal history, and we’re going to be able to overcome that because of you,” Mamdani continued, referring to Cuomo’s establishment-backed campaign.

“One of the things he clearly did very effectively was take his message directly to voters and do it in creative and interesting ways,” Schale said. “The concept of speaking directly to economic issues and finding creative ways to take that message directly to voters is something that all Democrats should learn from.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — whose name has been mentioned as a possible  presidential candidate in 2028 — has also emerged as a member of the Democratic camp whose social media presence has been among the few bright spots of the party, according to political observers who point to her authenticity and clear vision. 

Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani “are connecting with people by sort of leveraging the affordances of digital media,” said Adrienne Russell, a professor of communication at the University of Washington and a co-director of the school’s Center for Journalism, Media, and Democracy. 

Russell said both Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani “also happen to have really clear messages and a vision for where we need to go as a country.”  

“The Democrats that are sort of making a move to connect more with people are … young, and most of them have a very clear vision, and social media happens to be the place where they can connect with the public,” Russell added. “For decades, we've been saying it’s a social media thing when it's actually a people and politics thing, and social media is a tool.”

Political observers say they think that Democrats are looking for a quick fix and an easy solution in social media. But the party’s redemption, they say, has to be a long-term effort centered on running effective messengers in battleground territories. 

“At the end of the day, candidates drive interest,” Schale said. “A lot of folks want to find the easy solution. They want to spend $20 million to build a better podcast. And the reality is we need to elect more mayors and state legislators and county commissioners and county judges in communities that we have to do better in.” 

“There are things we can do to do a better job at driving a message, but candidates are the ones that go in races,” Schale added. “If you have messengers who are going to talk directly to the issues that voters care about, you can do well.”

Experts also caution that social media algorithms breed extremism and polarization, which is why they say Republicans have seen so much success on platforms like X and YouTube. But they say the answer is not for the Democratic establishment to radicalize and change its rhetoric.

“What Democrats can do to most effectively deal with social media is create conditions within social media that don't privilege extremism and misinformation and polarization,” Russell said. “I think social media is dropping the ball. When we have our public conversations boosted on platforms that privilege extremism, that's where the ball is being dropped.”

“This is the moment when these things are still movable,” she added.