Republicans, Democrats Differ In Awareness Of Specific News Coverage In 2018

Tech and media company Morning Consult looked at what news stories Republican and Democrat voters heard in 2018.

The report found, on average, that 39% of all voters said they heard “a lot” about 72 major news events selected for the analysis, including 44% of Democrats and 38% of Republicans.

Throughout 2018, Morning Consult surveyed roughly 100,000 registered voters about how much they had seen, read or heard about the top news of the day.

The major stories ranged from Democrats winning the House to the Parkland, Florida high-school shooting, former President Bush Sr. passing away to Hurricane Florence.

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Voters’ knowledge on The New York Times report on the Trump family’s tax evasion in the 1990s was the most uneven story in the report: 40% of Democrats heard “a lot” about it, compared with 16% of Republicans, and 28% of all voters.

Stormy Daniels’ appearance on “60 Minutes,” where she discussed her alleged affair with President Trump, also had one of the most uneven breakdowns among partisans: 43% of Democrats heard “a lot” about the segment, while 21% Republicans did, and 30% of all voters.

Voters’ attention and level of knowledge about key news stories varied by party.

Democrats were more aware of Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jon Un escalating nuclear threats than Republicans. The same discrepancy shows up in two other key news stories: More Democrats than Republicans learned that White House staff secretary Rob Porter resigned due to domestic violence claims, as well as the U.S. indicting a Russian agency that ran a troll farm trying to influence the 2016 presidential election.

More Republicans said they heard a lot about the process to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, such as his nomination and his confirmation. However, they heard far less news of Christine Blasey Ford accusing Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s and testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, per the report.

More Republican voters heard about the migrant caravan during the midterm elections and the #TakeAKnee protests in the NFL, which the GOP saw as a political advantage. (Fox News dropped most of its caravan coverage post-midterms.)

Democrats generally heard more specifics about President Trump's controversial actions in office than Republicans.

1 comment about "Republicans, Democrats Differ In Awareness Of Specific News Coverage In 2018".
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  1. James Smith from J. R. Smith Group, December 27, 2018 at 11:01 p.m.

    Interesting but would be far more enlightening to know the "why" behind the differences. Lower/higher news consumption in general?

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