Supporters of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are sharply divided along all kinds of lines, including the sources they rely on for their news, according to new data from an NBC News poll.
It is clear that voters who read newspapers and national internet news chose Biden, but Trump performed best among voters who do not follow political news at all.
This stark difference helps illuminate the strategies both candidates are using as they seek re-election to the White House, and sheds light on why the presidential campaign appears to be relatively stable.
The poll looked at various forms of traditional media (newspapers, national network news, cable news) as well as digital media (social media, digital websites, YouTube/Google). Among registered voters, 54% describe themselves as primarily consumers of traditional news and 40% describe themselves as primarily consumers of digital media.
In-person voting tests for the presidential election showed Biden with an 11-point lead among traditional news consumers, with support among them at 52% compared to Trump’s 41%. But among digital media consumers, it’s basically a jump ball, with Trump at 47% and Biden at 44%.
Among those who don’t follow political news, Trump has a large lead, with 53% supporting him and 27% supporting Biden.
“It’s almost a cartoon. If you’re one of the remaining Americans who say they read the newspaper to get the news, you’re voting for Biden by a 49-point margin,” Democratic Poll says. said Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster who conducted the survey with member Jeff Horwitt.
This trend also applies to other questions in the poll. While there are significant differences in how traditional news consumers view Biden, digital news consumers are overall much more aligned with registered voters.
More primarily traditional news consumers have a more positive opinion of Biden (48%) than a negative one (44%). Among primarily digital news consumers, 35% view Biden positively and 54% negatively. Vice President Kamala Harris’ positive ratings show a similar divide, but Trump is viewed similarly by news consumers on both sides of the aisle.
Additionally, although the sample size is small, people who do not follow political news feel more positively about Mr. Trump and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and more negatively about Biden. There is.
Politics News as Trump faces legal jeopardy during his trial over charges of paying hush money to cover up reports of an alleged affair during the heated 2016 presidential campaign and in other cases. Horwitt noticed Trump’s lead among people who don’t follow him. Things that are always in the news.
“These voters are generally uninformed, they know who they’re supporting, but they’re unmoved,” Horwitt said.
“That’s why it’s hard to base this race on actual news. They don’t see it and they don’t care.”
Third-party candidates also perform well with this group of voters. Of the 15% who say they don’t follow political news, a quarter chose one of the other candidates in a five-way poll test, including Kennedy, Jill Stein and Cornell. West. A similar proportion of third-party supporters say they get their news primarily from social media and websites.
However, the voting behavior of these groups suggests that Biden has a stronger showing with these traditional media consumers, giving him a lead among more reliable voting blocs. There is.
Of those surveyed who may have a match to your voter file, 59% of those who voted in both 2020 and 2022 primarily used traditional media, and 40% primarily used digital media. , only 9% of people do not follow political news. (Some people choose media platforms across multiple categories, so the percentages add up to more than 100%.)
Those who voted less frequently were more likely to report not following political news. 19% of people who voted in the last presidential election but did not vote in 2022 and 27% of people who did not vote in either of the past two elections said they did not follow them. . Follow political news.
The NBC News poll of 1,000 registered voters nationwide (891 contacted by cell phone) was conducted April 12-16 and had an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
