Measuring Hasan Piker's Influence Among Democrats

As expected, a handful of readers contend that today's Morning Jolt spelling out the background of Hasan Piker is elevating him or raising his profile. He already has a large audience from his streaming programs, he is appearing with Democratic candidates on the campaign trail and on other, high-profile left-of-center podcasts and the New York Times, but somehow my critical profile of him in my newsletter is going to turn him into a star. Okay.

If ignoring Piker would make him go away, I would be happy to do that, but experience has shown that ignoring odious voices does not make them disappear or become less influential in the public discourse.

As luck would have it, the GOP-leaning polling firm Echelon Insights asked 1,012 registered voters nationwide what they think of Piker and other podcasters. Piker is much less well known than Ben Shapiro, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Tucker Carlson. Sixty percent of respondents said they had not heard of him. Just 2 percent of respondents had a very favorable opinion of him, and 5 percent had a somewhat favorable opinion of him. Just 4 percent feel somewhat unfavorable about him, and 11 percent feel very unfavorable about him. But that doesn't quite mean that Piker is marginally influential among Democrats, particularly young Democrats.

We asked all Democrats for their thoughts on Hasan Piker after an introduction to some of his most controversial views. Just over half said he should be explicitly opposed by party leaders. About a third said he can help fight MAGA or outright agree with Piker’s views. This group is distinctly younger, non-white, and urban. Interestingly, Democrats who indicated they have heard of Hasan Piker agree with him or think he can help fight MAGA by a plurality of 47 percent.