The Media Issue

The midterm elections are just over two months away, and Donald Trump appears to be on his way to a stinging defeat.

But there’s one big problem that’s keeping me up at night: Republicans are STILL running circles around Democrats on the big social media platforms where Americans increasingly get their news.

Let me explain.

Four in 10 young people regularly get their news from YouTube, and a recent study found that Republicans outnumber Democrats by a nearly 2 to 1 margin among the top 100 biggest political YouTube channels.

It’s a similar story on TikTok, where Fox News’ account has exploded from 500,000 followers to nearly 11 million in less than two years. The situation is even worse on Facebook and Twitter/X.

You might be wondering, why is this such a big problem? Especially if Democrats are already leading in the polls? 

I’ll tell you why. Because while people like you and me might follow the news closely on a regular basis, most voters haven’t even begun to tune in to the midterms — and if all they see on social media between now and Election Day are MAGA talking points, the encouraging polls we’re seeing now won’t matter at all.

The good news is that the team here at Inequality Media Civic Action has spent years building our audience on these platforms, and since the start of 2026, our YouTube views have more than doubled to over 10 million a month.

Robert Reich.