Poll: US Tired of Politics    12/26 06:58

   Television ratings -- and now a new poll -- clearly illustrate about 
two-thirds of American adults say they have recently felt the need to limit 
media consumption about politics and government because of overload

   NEW YORK (AP) -- As a Democrat who immersed himself in political news during 
the presidential campaign, Ziad Aunallah has much in common with many Americans 
since the election. He's tuned out.

   "People are mentally exhausted," said Aunallah, 45, of San Diego. "Everyone 
knows what is coming and we are just taking some time off."

   Television ratings -- and now a new poll -- clearly illustrate the 
phenomenon. About two-thirds of American adults say they have recently felt the 
need to limit media consumption about politics and government because of 
overload, according to the survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for 
Public Affairs Research.

   Smaller percentages of Americans are limiting their intake of news about 
overseas conflicts, the economy or climate change, the poll says. Politics 
stand out.

   Election news on CNN and MSNBC was taking up too much of Sam Gude's time 
before the election, said the 47-year-old electrician from Lincoln, Nebraska. 
"The last thing I want to watch right now is the interregnum," said Gude, a 
Democrat and no fan of President-elect Donald Trump.

   Poll finds more Democrats than Republicans stepping away from news

   The poll, conducted in early December, found that about 7 in 10 Democrats 
say they are stepping back from political news. The percentage isn't as high 
for Republicans, who have reason to celebrate Trump's victory. Still, about 6 
in 10 Republicans say they've felt the need to take some time off too, and the 
share for independents is similar.

   The differences are far starker for the TV networks that have been consumed 
by political news.

   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%.

   At Fox News Channel, a favorite news network for Trump fans, the 
post-election average of 2.68 million viewers is up 13%, Nielsen said. Since 
the election, 72% of the people watching one of those three cable networks in 
the evening were watching Fox News, compared to 53% prior to election day.

   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. 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.

   MSNBC had its own anger issues after several "Morning Joe" viewers became 
upset that hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski visited Trump shortly 
after his victory last month. Yet while the show's ratings are down 35% since 
Election Day, that's a smaller drop than the network's prime-time ratings.

   CNN points out that while it has been suffering in the television ratings, 
its streaming and digital ratings have been consistent.

   Will political interest rebound when Trump takes office?

   MSNBC can take some solace in history. In previous years, network ratings 
bounce back when the depression after an election loss lifts, When a new 
administration takes office, people who oppose it are frequently looking for a 
gathering place.

   "I'll be tuning back in once the clown show starts," Aunallah said. "You 
have no choice. Whether or not you want to hear it, it's happening. If you care 
about your country, you have no choice but to pay attention."

   But the ride may not be smooth. MSNBC's slide is steeper than it was in 
2016; and there's some question about whether Trump opponents will want to be 
as engaged as they were during his first term. People are also unplugging from 
cable television in rates that are only getting more rapid, although MSNBC 
believes it has bucked this trend eating away at audiences before.

   The poll indicates 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 survey found that Americans 
are more likely to disapprove than approve of celebrities, large companies and 
professional athletes speaking out about politics.

   Still, Gude is among those discovering other ways to get news to which he 
does want to pay attention, including on YouTube.

   MSNBC is also in the middle of some corporate upheaval that raises questions 
about potential changes. Parent company Comcast announced last month that the 
cable network is among some properties that will spin off into a new company, 
which will give MSNBC new corporate leadership and cut its ties to NBC News.

   Advice for networks who want to see the viewers return

   Some of the Americans who have turned away from political news lately also 
had some advice for getting them engaged again.

   Gude said, for example, that MSNBC will always have a hard-core audience of 
Trump haters. But if the network wants to expand its audience, "then you have 
to talk about issues, and you have to stop talking about Trump."

   Kathleen Kendrick, a 36-year-old sales rep from Grand Junction, Colorado, 
who's a registered independent voter, said she hears plenty of people loudly 
spouting off about their political opinions on the job. She wants more depth 
when she watches the news. Much of what she sees is one-sided and shallow, she 
said.

   "You get a story but only part of a story," Kendrick said. "It would be nice 
if you could get both sides, and more research."

   Aunallah, similarly, is looking for more depth and variety. He's not 
interested "in watching the angry man on the corner yelling at me anymore," he 
said.

   "It's kind of their own fault that I'm not watching," he said. "I felt they 
spent all this time talking about the election. They made it so much of their 
focus that when the main event ends, why would people want to keep watching?"

   **

   The poll of 1,251 adults was conducted Dec. 5-9, 2024, 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 adults 
overall is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.