Influence You Can Trust? Exploring Trust in Social Media Influencers for Political Information

Abstract

Followers of social media influencers often see them as credible experts, similar to themselves, and trust them for information and advice. However, the extent to which people trust influencers for political information remains relatively unexplored in the United States. Our study examines who trusts social media influencers for political information and how that trust is associated with news media use, attitudes toward the information environment, and election-related belief accuracy in the context of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Using data from a nationally representative panel survey in the United States (YouGov), we find that women, people with lower levels of education, Democrats, and those less knowledgeable about politics are more likely to trust social media influencers for political information. This trust is associated with more perceived credibility of mainstream news media, but has little impact on future news media use and may lead to fewer accurate beliefs about the election. These results provide important information about who trusts social media influencers and how this trust might shape attitudes toward news media and the political information environment in the United States.