new york – As a Democrat who immersed himself in political news during the presidential campaign, Ziad Aunala has much in common with many Americans post-election. He’s feeling down.
“People are mentally exhausted,” said Aunala, 45, of San Diego. “We all know what’s going to happen, but we’re just resting for a little while.”
Television ratings, and now a new poll, clearly demonstrate this phenomenon. About two-thirds of U.S. adults say they’ve recently felt the need to limit their political and government media consumption due to overload, according to a survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Polls show that fewer Americans limit their intake of news about foreign conflicts, the economy and climate change. Politics is prominent.
Sam Goode, 47, an electrician from Lincoln, Nebraska, said he spent too much time watching election news on CNN and MSNBC before Nov. 5, adding, “The last thing I want to see right now is a vacant seat.” “,” Goode said. , a Democrat, but not a fan of President-elect Donald Trump.
Democrats are more distanced from the news than Republicans.
The poll, conducted in early December, found that about 7 in 10 Democrats said they distance themselves from political news. The percentage is not that high for Republicans, who have reason to celebrate Trump’s victory. Still, about 6 in 10 Republicans say they have felt the need to take a vacation, as do independents.
The difference is even more stark for television networks, which have become obsessed with political news.
From election night to Dec. 13, MSNBC averaged 620,000 prime-time viewers, a 54% decrease from this year’s pre-election viewership, according to Nielsen. Comparing the same period, CNN averaged 405,000 viewers, down 45%.
Fox News Channel, a news network popular with Trump fans, averaged 2.68 million viewers after the election, a 13% increase, Nielsen said. After the election, 72% of people who watch one of these three cable networks in the evening watched FOX News, compared to 53% before Election Day.
The post-election slump in fans of losing candidates is not a new trend for networks that have become highly conscious of partisan audiences. MSNBC had a similar problem after President Trump was elected in 2016. It was the same on FOX in 2020, but anger complicated the situation. At the time, many viewers were outraged that the network called Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to Arizona on a crucial election night. I looked for alternatives.
Will political interest recover if President Trump takes office?
MSNBC can take some solace in looking back on its history. Previously, the network reputation is restored When the depression after election defeat lifts. When a new government takes office, those who oppose it often look for a place to gather.
“I’ll tune in again when the clown show starts,” Aunala said. “You have no choice. It’s happening whether you want to hear it or not. If you value your country, you have no choice but to pay attention.”
However, the ride may not be as smooth. MSNBC’s decline is even steeper than in 2016, and there are questions about whether President Trump’s opponents will want to be as involved as they were during his first term. MSNBC also believes it has been able to counteract the trend that is eating away at viewers before, with viewership coming from cable TV at an ever-increasing rate.
This poll shows that Americans generally don’t want public figures to talk much about politics. After an election season in which endorsements from celebrities such as Taylor Swift made headlines, surveys show Americans are more likely to disapprove of what celebrities, big businesses, and professional athletes say about politics than to approve of them. It turned out to be high.
Advice for networks hoping to keep viewers coming back
Some Americans who had recently turned away from political news received advice on how to re-engage.
For example, Goode said MSNBC will always have a hardcore audience that hates President Trump. But if the network wants to grow its audience, “we have to talk about the issues and we have to stop talking about Trump.”
Kathleen Kendrick, 36, a sales representative in Grand Junction, Colorado, is registered as an independent voter, but she hears many people shouting out their political opinions at work. he said. She wants more depth when she watches the news. She says much of what she sees is one-sided and shallow.
“You get a story, but it’s only part of the story,” Kendrick says. “I hope you understand both sides and do further research.”
Aunala similarly seeks more depth and variety. He’s “no longer interested in seeing an angry man on a street corner yelling at me,” he says.
“What I don’t see is it’s kind of their own fault,” he said. “I felt like they were talking about the election the whole time. Why would people want to keep watching even after the main event was over?”
The poll of 1,251 adults was conducted Dec. 5-9 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. . The margin of sampling error for all adults is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
Bauder and Sanders are contributors to The Associated Press.
