Voters supporting Joe Biden and Donald Trump are divided on many issues as well as the sources they use to consume news, according to a new NBC News poll.
By The Numbers:
Over half of 2024 registered voters (54%) described themselves as traditional news consumers, while 40% said they were mainly digital media consumers. Fifty-nine percent of voters who showed up in 2020 and 2022 were traditional news consumers, 40% were digital news consumers, and 9% did not consume political news at all.
Over half of voters (53%) who don’t follow political news today back Trump while 27% support Biden. Trump also has an advantage with voters who get news from YouTube/ Google (55% to Biden’s 39%), cable news (53% to 45%), and social media (46% to 42%).
Biden has the advantage with voters who consume their news more traditionally, winning those who consume news from national network news (55% to Trump’s 35%) and newspapers (70% to Trump’s 21%).
The Bottom Line: These splits are important, especially as news coverage is dominated by the New York court proceedings. For example, Trump’s base has tuned out the coverage and all political news while some swing voters may still tune in to the nightly news.
Overall, more voters still get their news from broadcast and cable news as well as newspapers, even though their numbers are dwindling. Identifying where voters get their information–not defaulting to social media–is important for all candidates. Campaigns must reach voters where they are. Whoever does this more effectively will have the advantage this election.
