Survey finds 85% claim they personally follow news closely
UTICA, New York – Nearly three-in-four Americans (72%) believe most of the country is not politically engaged and does not follow the news from Washington closely. Only 15% believe the American public is informed about national politics, a new Zogby Interactive poll shows.
The belief that Americans are politically uninformed cuts across party lines with 72% of Democrats, 74% of Republicans, and 70% of political independents all holding that view. Older Americans are more likely to believe the general public is politically aware – 21% of those age 65 and older believe Americans closely follow Washington news, compared to just 12% of those age 18-29 who say the same.
Most Americans claim they personally follow the news closely
Despite the belief that most Americans do not pay attention to the news, 85% of Americans say they personally follow the news closely. Of those, 62% say that while there are some news stations and papers they like and some they do not, they can usually find a reliable source for news. The remaining 23% who follow the news closely say they have a difficult time finding a news station or newspaper they like and they do not see many reliable sources for news. Twelve percent of respondents say they once followed the news but no longer watch because they have been turned off by the quality of news programming and reporting.
Which of the following statements comes closest to your opinion on the news media?
|
Overall |
DEM |
IND |
GOP |
|
| I follow the news closely. There are some news stations and newspapers I like and some I don’t like, but I can usually find a reliable source for news. |
62 |
66 |
54 |
65 |
| I follow the news closely but I have a difficult time finding a news station or newspaper I like and I don’t see many reliable sources for news. |
23 |
20 |
27 |
21 |
| I used to follow the news but no longer watch because I have been turned off by the quality of news programming and reporting. |
12 |
9 |
17 |
12 |
| I don’t follow the news because I don’t have time to keep up with it all. |
1 |
2 |
<1 |
<1 |
| I’ve never really followed the news and I don’t think I’m missing much. |
<1 |
1 |
<1 |
<1 |
| None/Not Sure |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
*Responses may not add to 100% due to rounding
Local print journalism and television news rate higher than national counterparts
The survey also asked respondents to rate the overall quality of national and local print media and television, and found that local journalists receive slightly higher marks than their national counterparts. Thirty percent of respondents rate their local television journalists as “excellent” or “good”; 30% give the same rating to their local print and newspaper journalists. Respondents were asked to rate journalists overall regardless of the newspaper, magazine or television channel. National journalists fared slightly worse with only 23% of respondents rating national print and newspaper journalists as “excellent” or “good”, while 18% rate national television journalists equally. A majority of respondents rate the quality of all four categories of journalists as either “fair” or “poor.”
This interactive survey of 2,330 American adults was conducted November 4 -6, 2009. A sampling of Zogby International’s online panel, which is representative of adult Americans, was invited to participate. Slight weights were added region, party, age, race, religion, gender, education to more accurately reflect the population. The margin of error is +/- 2.1 percentage points. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.
