America is a country that was created for an engaged and informed citizenry. The marvelous thing about America is that you can choose not to be engaged and informed and not suffer any consequences. The world will continue to turn if you're not up on the latest outrage from the left or up-to-speed about the most recent idiocy from the geese in Congress.
That doesn't mean it's an ideal state of affairs for people to tune out of politics. It's just the way it is. The modern world is complex, and politics is a jumble. Americans tend to take the path of least resistance, roll over, and go to sleep rather than learn about the issues.
That's a gross oversimplification. Americans may not be up to speed on most issues, but when it comes to what impacts them directly, Americans become experts. It's why, no matter how the Democrats spun the issue of inflation, they got absolutely no traction with the voters. Americans are experts when it comes to their own pocketbooks and know that Democrats were lying about prices.
TV ratings for political shows a month after the national election are cratering. News networks like MSNBC have seen their viewership drop a staggering 54% from the pre-election audience. Meanwhile, Fox News is up a healthy 13%, reaching 2.68 million viewers. "Since the election, 72% of the people watching one of those three cable networks in the evening were watching Fox News, compared to 53% prior to election day," according to the Associated Press.
A post-election slump for fans of the losing candidate is not a new trend for networks that have become heavily identified for a partisan audience. MSNBC had similar issues after Trump was elected in 2016. Same for Fox in 2020, although that was complicated by anger: many of its viewers were outraged then by the network’s crucial election night call of Arizona for the Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, and sought alternatives.
MSNBC had its own anger issues after several “Morning Joe” viewers became upset that hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski visited Trump shortly after his victory last month. Yet while the show’s ratings are down 35% since Election Day, that’s a smaller drop than the network’s prime-time ratings.
CNN points out that while it has been suffering in the television ratings, its streaming and digital ratings have been consistent.
CNN's "consistent" streaming and digital ratings are consistently low.
Fox viewers are giddy, but the network's primetime lineup doesn't depend as much on a Trump victory as MSNBC and CNN would have depended on a Harris win.
How can MSNBC and CNN get some of their viewers back? One viewer from Nebraska, 47-year-old San Gude, has tuned out politics after the election and advises the networks on how to expand their audience: "talk about issues, and you have to stop talking about Trump.”
An AP-NORC poll does not have good news for MSNBC and CNN.
MSNBC’s slide is steeper than it was in 2016; and there’s some question about whether Trump opponents will want to be as engaged as they were during his first term. People are also unplugging from cable television in rates that are only getting more rapid, although MSNBC believes it has bucked this trend eating away at audiences before.
The poll indicates that Americans want less talk about politics from public figures in general. After an election season where endorsements from celebrities like Taylor Swift made headlines, the survey found that Americans are more likely to disapprove than approve of celebrities, large companies and professional athletes speaking out about politics.
Americans will be informed only as much as they feel they need to be, not how much the cable news networks, Democrats, or Republicans think they should be.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member