How Americans Get Local Political News
Most U.S. adults follow news about local government and politics, yet only a quarter are highly satisfied with the quality of coverage.
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Most U.S. adults follow news about local government and politics, yet only a quarter are highly satisfied with the quality of coverage.
More than half of Americans (58%) say they are following news about candidates for the 2024 presidential election very or fairly closely.
True crime is the most common topic, making up 24% of top-ranked podcasts; 15% of the top podcasts focus on news. The next most common topics are politics and government (10%); entertainment, pop culture and the arts (9%); and self-help and relationships (8%).
About one-in-ten U.S. adults have heard of Gab, an alternative social media site, and 1% say that they get news there regularly.
74% of Republicans say social media has been more of a bad thing for U.S. democracy, compared with a smaller majority of Democrats (57%).
Most think social media has made it easier to manipulate and divide people, but they also say it informs and raises awareness.
With Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential bid now officially underway, here are key facts about Truth Social and its users.
One-in-five federal, state and local candidate tweets in 2022 have mentioned race, abortion, education or the economy.
In recent years, several new options have emerged in the social media universe, many of which explicitly present themselves as alternatives to more established social media platforms. Free speech ideals and heated political themes prevail on these sites, which draw praise from their users and skepticism from other Americans.
55% of journalists surveyed say that every side does not always deserve equal coverage in the news. 22% of Americans overall say the same.
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