About two-thirds of US adults say they have recently felt the need to limit their media consumption about politics due to overload, AP News reports.
According to the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, a smaller percentage of Americans limit their consumption of news about foreign conflicts, the economy or climate change. This demonstrates the audience’s fundamental reluctance to see political news.
The poll also found that more Democrats than Republicans are steering away from the news. About 7 in 10 Democrats claim they abstain from political news. Meanwhile, about 6 in 10 Republicans say they have also felt the need to take a break from politics.
MSNBC’s primetime audience averaged 620,000 after election night through 13 December, down 54% from its pre-election audience this year, according to Nielsen data. Comparably, CNN’s average viewership of 405,000 was down 45%.
MSNBC’s decline is steeper than it was in 2016, making it doubtful whether Trump’s opponents will want to be as active as they were during his first term. People are also disconnecting from cable TV, with the trend only rising.
The poll shows that Americans want less talk about politics from public figures in general. After an election season where endorsements from celebrities like Taylor Swift made headlines, the poll shows that Americans disapprove rather than approve of celebrities, big companies and professional athletes talking about politics.
The survey of 1,251 adults was conducted 5-9 December 2024 using a sample drawn from the probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel. The margin of sampling error for adults stands at about 3.7 percentage points.
