X (formerly Twitter) has rebranded, relaxed some of its content rules and made other sweeping changes since Elon Musk bought the platform in 2022. Amid these shifts, Republicans view the social media platform far more positively than Democrats do.
Below, we explore the following questions:
How do users rate their experiences on X?
Overall, 37% of X users say their recent experiences using the platform have been mostly positive, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Feb. 24-March 2.
A statistically equal share of users (40%) describe their recent experiences as neither positive nor negative. Another 23% say their experiences have been mostly negative.
Views by political party
Majorities in both parties say their recent experiences on X have been mostly positive or neutral. However, Republican and Republican-leaning X users are more likely than Democratic and Democratic-leaning users to report upbeat experiences on the site. About half of Republican users (51%) describe their time there as positive, compared with 20% of Democratic users.
Democrats on the platform are more likely than Republicans to say their recent experience has been mostly negative (40% vs. 11%).
Still, similar shares of Republican (38%) and Democratic (41%) users say their experience on X is neither positive nor negative.
Views by race and ethnicity
White adults on X stand out in saying their experience on the platform these days has been mostly positive. Roughly four-in-ten White X users (41%) say this, higher than Hispanic (36%), Black (29%) and Asian (28%) users. The shares of Hispanic, Black and Asian users who say this are not statistically different from each other.
Related: Bluesky has caught on with many news influencers, but X remains popular
Do users think X leans conservative or liberal?
More X users say the site favors conservative views over liberal ones, but this is even more common among Democrats. Overall, 31% of X users think the platform tends to support conservative views over liberal views. Far fewer – 5% – say X supports liberal views more, while 38% say it supports both sets of views equally. Another 26% are not sure.
Views by political party
Few users in either party think the site supports liberal views over conservative ones. But views differ on whether X backs conservatives over liberals or treats both groups equally.
Among X users:
- 55% of Democrats say X supports conservative views over liberal views, compared with 13% of Republicans.
- 56% of Republicans think the platform supports liberal and conservative views equally, compared with 16% of Democrats.
How do users view X’s impact on American democracy?
The share of Republicans on X who say the platform is mostly good for American democracy has risen from 17% in 2021 to 58% today.
Meanwhile, fewer Republican users than in 2021 say the platform is mostly bad for democracy (60% in 2021 vs. 11% in 2025).
Democrats’ views have moved in the opposite direction. The share of Democrats on X who say the platform is good for democracy has decreased from 47% to 17% over the past four years. At the same time, 53% of Democratic users now say X is bad for democracy, far higher than the 28% in 2021.
The shares in both parties who say X doesn’t impact American democracy have remained relatively stable over the past four years. In 2021, roughly a quarter each of Republican and Democratic X users said this, and about three-in-ten in each party say this now.
How do X users view the platform’s environment?
Musk has been a vocal advocate for protecting free speech on the site and reinstating some banned users. But critics have raised concerns that misinformation and harassment could go unchecked on the platform under Musk.
In 2021, a similar share of Republican and Democratic users said inaccurate or misleading information on X was a major problem. By 2023, Democratic users were more likely than Republican users to say this (68% vs. 37%).
Today the gap has widened further, to nearly 50 percentage points.
We also asked users about harassment and abuse, as well as the tone or civility of discussions on X. The shares who say these are major problems on the platform follow a fairly similar pattern as misleading information. Where we saw Republicans and Democrats more on par in 2021, we now see wide divides.
Republicans’ and Democrats’ views about X banning users have shifted in the opposite direction from each other. In 2021, Republican users were far more likely than Democrats to see it as a major issue (61% vs. 6%). In 2023, the gap narrowed, and today, a larger share of Democrats than Republicans on X say this is a major problem (33% vs. 18%).
Similarly, Republican users were more concerned than Democrats in 2021 about X limiting the visibility of certain posts. But Democrats are now more likely than Republicans to say this is a major problem.
Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis, the topline and the survey methodology. This is an update of a post originally published May 1, 2023.
