The Influence of Influencers: The Impact of Online Political Influencer Content on Political Affiliation

Abstract

Political content on the Internet has increased dramatically over the last decade and has a demonstrated effect on the habits and beliefs of voters. We examined whether and to what extent content created by Online Political Influencers (OPIs) is effective at influencing the political affiliation of online audiences and whether this depends on the political affiliation or rhetorical mode (debate or video essay) characterizing their content. Participants (N = 302) were recruited from a variety of online platforms. We found that most participants had experienced a small change in political affiliation since watching OPI content and found evidence for an interaction between rhetorical mode and the size and direction of political affiliation change. People who experienced a significant change to the right were more likely to report watching debate only or mostly debate content.