Two-thirds of American adults, after listening to years of one-sided and coordinated media attacks on Republicans, President-elect Donald Trump, conservatives, Christians and more, say they feel the need to tune out of news.
It is the Associated Press, which often has been part of the campaigns to promote leftist ideologies, that reports it made the discovery in its survey done in conjunction with the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Those Americans specifically explained they need to limit media consumption about politics and government because of “overload,” the report said.
Other percentages, smaller, also now are limiting their exposure to news of overseas conflicts, the economy, “climate change” and more.
The report explained the poll, done earlier this month, “found that about 7 in 10 Democrats say they are stepping back from political news.”
For Republicans, that number was 60%.
The public’s rejection of often-biased monologuing from reporters was most evident among television network audiences, the report said.
“After election night through Dec. 13, the prime-time viewership of MSNBC was an average of 620,000, down 54% from the pre-election audience this year, the Nielsen company said. For the same time comparison, CNN’s average of 405,000 viewers was down 45%.”
Fox, in contrast, had audiences up 13% for the time period.
“A post-election slump for fans of the losing candidate is not a new trend for networks that have become heavily identified for a partisan audience,” the report said. “MSNBC had similar issues after Trump was elected in 2016. Same for Fox in 2020, although that was complicated by anger: many of its viewers were outraged then by the network’s crucial election night call of Arizona for the Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, and sought alternatives.”
The report also described how network ratings “bounce back” when the “depression” after an election disaster, like the Kamala Harris results in November, fade.
Further, the poll showed that celebrity endorsements, like Taylor Swift’s promotion of the Democrat ticket in 2024, likely generate disapproval from voters, not enthusiasm.
The report quoted Kathleen Kendrick, 36, of Grand Junction, Colorado, as being concerned over reporting that’s “one-sided and shallow.”
“It would be nice if you could get both sides, and more research,” she said.
