Where AI gets its election information
We asked AI products to compare the candidates in the races we followed, and recorded the sources they cited.
What we found
- Local news is the largest category, at 39% of cited links.
- The chatbots differ widely. Local news is 55% of the links cited by Perplexity and 25% for ChatGPT. ChatGPT web link counts are partial: our tool captured only some of the links shown.
- In the six races on our daily panel, the most-cited site is youtube.com, almost all of it from Gemini. The ten most-cited sites account for 21% of cited links there, counting each developer version equally.
- Sites can rise and fall quickly. Facebook went from 22% of the links cited by Gemini's developer version to 0% during this study, while YouTube held at about 10%. We do not yet know why.
| Chatbot | Local news | Other news and wire services | Campaign and party sites | Reference sites | Government | Advocacy and lobbying groups | Social media | Everything else |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude | 43% | 16% | 6% | 10% | 2% | 5% | 0% | 18% |
| Perplexity | 55% | 21% | 3% | 6% | 2% | 3% | 1% | 10% |
| Gemini | 26% | 9% | 16% | 15% | 4% | 9% | 14% | 7% |
| ChatGPT | 25% | 16% | 29% | 10% | 8% | 5% | 1% | 7% |
| Grok | 46% | 13% | 22% | 8% | 0% | 4% | 2% | 5% |
| Google Search | 44% | 14% | 0% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 36% | 2% |
Share of cited links, by chatbot. Links per chatbot: Claude 112,649, Perplexity 99,592, Gemini 95,994, ChatGPT 52,645, Grok 1,407, Google Search 1,201. 96% of these links come from developer API versions rather than web apps, so these figures mostly describe the API versions. ChatGPT web link counts are partial: our tool captured only some of the links shown. The Grok row comes from SuperGrok, and its link counts are partial.
| Site | Share of links | By week | First to last week |
|---|---|---|---|
| youtube.com | 2.8% | 2.3% to 2.9% | |
| ajc.com | 2.5% | 2.8% to 2.3% | |
| yahoo.com | 2.5% | 2.9% to 2.5% | |
| texastribune.org | 2.3% | 2.1% to 2.0% | |
| en.wikipedia.org | 2.3% | 2.4% to 2.1% | |
| davidjolly.com | 2.2% | 2.3% to 2.0% | |
| apnews.com | 2.0% | 1.9% to 2.5% | |
| ballotpedia.org | 1.7% | 1.6% to 2.2% | |
| actonforgovernor.com | 1.6% | 1.8% to 1.1% | |
| facebook.com | 1.5% | 5.4% to 0.0% | |
| wispolitics.com | 1.5% | 1.4% to 1.5% | |
| cbsnews.com | 1.4% | 1.5% to 1.5% | |
| fox5atlanta.com | 1.2% | 0.6% to 1.4% | |
| foxnews.com | 1.1% | 1.3% to 1.1% | |
| abdulforsenate.com | 1.1% | 1.0% to 0.9% | |
| bridgemi.com | 1.0% | 0.8% to 1.2% | |
| byrondonalds.com | 1.0% | 1.1% to 0.9% | |
| axios.com | 0.9% | 1.3% to 0.6% | |
| jamestalarico.com | 0.9% | 0.8% to 1.0% | |
| wpr.org | 0.9% | 0.8% to 0.9% | |
| statenews.org | 0.8% | 1.0% to 0.7% | |
| vivekforohio.com | 0.8% | 1.0% to 0.6% | |
| ontheissues.org | 0.8% | 0.8% to 0.9% | |
| politifact.com | 0.8% | 1.0% to 0.7% | |
| floridapolitics.com | 0.8% | 0.8% to 0.9% |
The same daily questions in the same six races, on the developer versions of Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, and Perplexity, each counting equally. Weeks of Oct 5, 2026 (partial) through Nov 2, 2026, on one scale. Earlier days used a different question set and are left out.
Facebook: 22% to 0%
YouTube: 9% to 10%
Share of links cited by Gemini's developer version, by week, on one scale. ChatGPT's and Claude's developer versions cite both sites rarely.
The version you use changes the sources you see
Free accounts on ChatGPT and Claude cite more local news than the same company's developer version. On Claude, the paid account cites more sources in nearly the same mix.
On ChatGPT, the paid account as we ran it cites campaign sites about 13 points less than a free account, and local news about 4 points more, on our daily questions, mostly from October. The gap was smaller on Nov 2–3, on few answers, and did not appear in other questions we asked on Nov 3.
Local news as a share of cited links. Same question, same day.
Claude
| Developer API | 48% |
|---|---|
| Free web account | 66% |
ChatGPT
| Developer API | 25% |
|---|---|
| Free web account | 34% |
ChatGPT web figures count only the links our tool captured, a subset of those shown.
Share of cited links, web apps. Same question, same day, six races. The paid account as we ran it.
ChatGPT
| Campaign sites, free account | 34% |
|---|---|
| Campaign sites, Plus account | 22% |
| Local news, free account | 34% |
| Local news, Plus account | 38% |
Claude
| Campaign sites, free account | 2% |
|---|---|
| Campaign sites, Pro account | 3% |
| Local news, free account | 66% |
| Local news, Pro account | 65% |
ChatGPT free vs Plus: on our daily questions, mostly from October. The gap was smaller on Nov 2–3, on few answers, and did not appear in other questions we asked on Nov 3.
ChatGPT web figures count only the links our tool captured, a subset of those shown.
Web vs API data through November 3, 2026; free vs paid through November 3, 2026. Gemini's web app and Grok's free tier are not included because we do not have comparable answers.
What AI cites in each state's top races
- AK39
- ME47
- WI58
- VT50
- NH31
- WA
- ID36
- MT49
- ND
- MN30
- IL49
- MI29
- NY38
- MA33
- OR41
- NV40
- WY60
- SD42
- IA41
- IN
- OH32
- PA65
- NJ29
- CT49
- RI33
- CA48
- UT
- CO30
- NE49
- MO
- KY35
- WV29
- VA50
- MD35
- DE44
- AZ39
- NM34
- KS43
- AR33
- TN29
- NC28
- SC37
- DC
- OK34
- LA41
- MS42
- AL42
- GA47
- HI34
- TX25
- FL29
- AK12
- ME9
- WI11
- VT10
- NH24
- WA
- ID17
- MT11
- ND
- MN13
- IL10
- MI15
- NY16
- MA13
- OR17
- NV15
- WY9
- SD7
- IA10
- IN
- OH17
- PA10
- NJ16
- CT14
- RI13
- CA7
- UT
- CO12
- NE13
- MO
- KY13
- WV20
- VA13
- MD8
- DE10
- AZ17
- NM8
- KS14
- AR10
- TN23
- NC17
- SC11
- DC
- OK14
- LA10
- MS12
- AL10
- GA11
- HI8
- TX10
- FL20
- AK3
- ME1
- WI2
- VT6
- NH6
- WA
- ID6
- MT2
- ND
- MN5
- IL4
- MI6
- NY1
- MA7
- OR5
- NV2
- WY3
- SD1
- IA2
- IN
- OH5
- PA1
- NJ9
- CT3
- RI6
- CA1
- UT
- CO4
- NE3
- MO
- KY4
- WV2
- VA3
- MD6
- DE1
- AZ3
- NM3
- KS3
- AR2
- TN3
- NC4
- SC6
- DC
- OK7
- LA3
- MS4
- AL3
- GA1
- HI3
- TX4
- FL6
Percent of cited links in each state's Senate and governor races, on one question asked in every race. Shares depend on how we classify each outlet. Each developer version counts equally. Dashed tiles rest on a single race; grey tiles have no statewide race we followed. A figure describes these contests, not the state as a whole, and darker tiles are relative to the highest value on each map.
How we did it
We recorded the pages each answer linked to and sorted each website into a type, such as local news or campaign site. These figures count links an answer cites, not pages a chatbot consulted but did not cite. Read our methods or the method notes.
What comes next
We are now checking the sources themselves: which local outlets are established newsrooms, how new the websites are, and how the national outlets cited compare with the ones Americans read most.
See the full results
Sign in to explore sources over time and race by race, look up any website, read each answer with its links, and download the data.
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