Once again, Florida Politics is the most-read news outlet among state lawmakers

Florida Politics is the most-read news outlet among state lawmakers for the third year running, according to a new survey of legislative aides.

Conducted by CATECOMM, the 2022 Florida Legislative Aide Survey found 90% of Florida lawmakers read Florida Politics, Sunburn or FlaPol texts daily, a 4-point increase over the 2021 survey and more than double what Florida Politics scored in the first Florida Legislative Aide Survey in 2013 when we were known as SaintPetersBlog.com.

Florida Politics holds a 22-point lead over local TV news, which placed second. The next most-read news source was POLITICO Florida, which 64% of legislative aides said their bosses read daily, followed by the online editions of local newspapers at 60% and print editions at 50%.

Local Sunday shows, such as Political Connections and Facing South Florida, are regularly viewed by 48% of lawmakers. Further down the list were 24-hour news networks, led by Fox News at 38%, then CNN at 36% and MSNBC at 28%.

The Legislative Aide Survey also asked what social media platforms lawmakers use — and how they use them.

Twitter topped all other social media platforms in the survey, with 54% of aides saying it was “very important” to lawmakers and 28% saying it was “important.” The remaining 18% said lawmakers are either “neutral” or view the service as “not important.” Facebook ranked No. 2, with 48% saying it was “very important,” followed by Instagram at 18%, YouTube at 10% and TikTok at 4%.

As far as receiving views from constituents, Facebook is king. Ninety percent said the service was either “very important” or “important” in getting their message out. Twitter scored 78% combined, with no other service crossing the 50% threshold.

According to staffers, three in 10 lawmakers maintain complete control over their social media accounts, with an additional 44% personally getting behind the keyboard or camera “sometimes” and 24% doing so “rarely.” Just 2% of Representatives and Senators never operate their social media accounts.

Post Views:
0