After the announcement that President Donald Trump (R) would be starting his own social media network, there was a divisive response and positive response to the news. The President was banned from multiple social media sites as a result of the storming of the Capitol. Although a number of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle agreed that the President should not share his views on Twitter, there would some lawmakers who expressed disagreement to the ban.
With new information indicating that President Trump’s social media platform could gain a successful turnout in registration, commentators question what effect it could have on the upcoming 2022 midterm election and a potential 2024 presidential run.
In March, during an appearance on the Ezra Klein Show, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (I) did not mince words when it came to his disdain for President Trump. However, he did share that “if you’re asking me, do I feel comfortable that the then-president of the United States could not express his views on Twitter? I don’t feel comfortable about that.”
According to a Tippinsight poll conducted in February, 49% of those polled believed that Twitter made a mistake in permanently suspending President Trump. As a result, a poll conducted in late March and early April indicated that 40% said they would most likely join President Trump’s new social media platform.
While 61% of conservatives said they would move to the site, 23% moderates and 16% liberals also shared that they would join the platform. Moreover, when asked if they would abandon Twitter and make the jump exclusively to the new platform, 39% said that they would do so, which begs the question of what effect that could have on the popular social media platform.
Though Twitter has maintained that they are fair and do not engage in political censorship, 40% of those polls disagreed, arguing that Twitter favors liberals while 33% believed that there was no political slant to the social media platform.
