Conventional wisdom says that the Left should be enjoying a stronger surge in support online than their counterparts on the Right following the election of Donald Trump — the least popular candidate in modern history and one who has undoubtedly experienced the most impassioned/irrational/vitriolic “resistance” of any modern president.
But as continues to be true in the Era of Trump, conventional wisdom is yet more “fake news.”
A new study produced for Axios by Newswhip found that it is in fact new conservative websites and social media pages, not the leftwing ones, that are experiencing the “bigger explosion” under Trump:
Right-wing killing it on Facebook and online: In studies done for Axios by Newswhip, which measures social media engagement, and Chartbeat, which measures website engagement, it is conservatives — not liberals — who have seen the bigger explosion of new, high-traffic sites and pages taking off in the Trump era. While everyone obsesses about Trump on Twitter, his Facebook fan base was much larger and probably more consequential in shaping public opinion. (Roughly half of U.S. adults say they get news from Facebook, per Pew.)
Another “fun fact” Axios notes is that the Drudge Report “drives more traffic to news sites than all but five companies in the world — and MORE than Google News.”
It’s these sorts of facts that drive the Left to retreat to a feelings-based worldview.
But while the Right is thriving more online, the “leftwing resistance is growing,” Axios notes, citing some Facebook groups that are particularly doing well, including “The Other 98%, Occupy Democrats, Proud Liberals, News and Guts.” Whoever they are.
Axios also cites a growing trend that The Daily Wire has been tracking as well: the Left’s targeting of advertisers for conservative sites and right-leaning voices, like Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and most recently Megyn Kelly. The new strategy of many brands now, Kantar Media VP Steve Passwalter told Axios, is “brand safety,” which amounts to avoiding controversy.