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While DC policy insiders often find that much more divides them than unites them, when it comes to where they get their news, there is one thing that they seem to agree on: the power of LinkedIn.
That’s the conclusion of Avoq’s 2025 Policy Insiders’ Media Habits Report, which looks at the sharp divides in how Democratic, Republican and MAGA-aligned insiders consume news.
More than eight out of 10 (81 percent) of the Democratic policy insiders surveyed said they use LinkedIn, and that number remains rather steady for both Republicans (84 percent) and the MAGA-aligned (78 percent).
As regards daily browsing habits on LinkedIn, the numbers tick down a bit, with just 45 percent of the MAGA-aligned saying they check in each day, with 69 percent of Republicans and 59 percent of Democrats doing so.
“DC insiders have been turning to it for more than just job moves and professional updates for a while” Avoq head of strategic planning & insights Dianne Riddle Mikeska said about LinkedIn, “but this year confirms it as a must-hit hub for all sides of the aisle.”
The widest gap between the different groups was in their usage of Elon Musk’s X. While 72 percent of the MAGA-aligned use the platform to get information, that number falls to 66 percent for Republicans and takes a sharp drop to 38 percent for Democrats.
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The report also looked at the relative popularity of non-social media outlets. Republicans showed a preference for email newsletters at 69 percent—far above the 33 percent cited by Democrats and 23 percent for the MAGA-aligned.
News publisher apps did not do nearly so well—25 percent for Democrats, 14 percent for Republicans and 13 percent for the MAGA-aligned.
Thanks perhaps to the overall fragmentation of media platforms, individual influencers held a large amount of sway. When survey respondents were asked which influencers help inform their opinion on policy, the MAGA-aligned were by far the most faithful audience for their preferred influencers.
MAGA poster boy Elon Musk was the most popular with that crowd by a considerable margin, his 53 percent solidly beating Joe Rogan (43 percent). Tucker Carlson and Bret Baier were both close behind Rogan at 40 percent.
No influencer was that popular with Republicans or Democrats. For Republicans, Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman took the top spot with 30 percent, followed by Nate Silver at 25 percent and Mike Allen at 20 percent. Democrats put Silver first (33 percent), with John Oliver (27 percent) and Sherman (23 percent) taking the next two spots.
Those numbers go along with the report’s overall picture of how the three groups look at the media. Democrats, they say, take information from a wide range of sources. Republicans are said to act like “traditional” DC insiders, and the MAGA-aligned form an intense relationship with a few select sources.
“We’ve reached a point where tailoring the message isn’t optional — it’s essential,” said Mikeska. “If you’re trying to reach DC insiders, what works for one group may completely miss another. This year’s data makes that clearer than ever.”
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