Television is America's main source for news about current events, and Fox News is the leading single source for news, an eye-opening new Gallup poll reveals.
Overall, 55 percent of respondents say that television is their main source for news, while 21 percent rely on the Internet as their main source. Only 9 percent now cite newspapers or other print publications as their main source, and 6 percent say radio.
In the survey of more than 2,000 adults, 26 percent cite television as their main source without naming a particular network or station, and 4 percent cite local TV news, while 8 percent say they rely on Fox News as their main source, ahead of CNN at 7 percent.
Remarkably, just 1 percent cite ABC or NBC, and less than 0.5 percent name CBS. Among other cable sources, a scant 1 percent rely on MSNBC, CNBC, or PBS. Other respondents cited very small percentages of cable news stations.
Urgent: High Gas Prices: Is it Obama's Fault? Vote Now
"Internet/Computer/Online (non-specific)" is chosen by 18 percent of respondents as their main source, and 2 percent choose "Facebook/Twitter/Social media."
Just 6 percent cite nonspecific newspapers, and only The New York Times and Wall Street Journal are named by at least 1 percent of respondents.
Interestingly, only 1 percent say they don't follow the news.
Reliance on the Internet for news is far more prevalent among younger Americans — 27 percent of those 18 to 29 years old and 28 percent of respondents age 30 to 49 use online resources as their main source for news, compared to 6 percent of those 65 and older.
Republicans are more likely than Democrats or independents to turn to TV for their news, and "Fox News is a clear driver of Republicans' higher tendency to turn to television, with 20 percent versus 6 percent of independents and 1 percent of Democrats naming it as their main news source," Gallup reports.
Two-thirds of core Fox News viewers identify themselves as Republican, and 94 percent identify themselves as, or lean Republican. By contrast, 63 percent of core CNN viewers identify or lean Democratic.
Other findings of the poll include:
- 32 percent of college graduates and 27 percent of those with a post-graduate degree rely on the Internet for their news, compared to just 13 percent of those with a high school education or less. Even among college graduates, only 7 percent cite print as their main source for news;
- Two-thirds of core Fox News viewers are 50 or older, compared to 35 percent of CNN-oriented news consumers.
- Fox News viewers are much more likely than core CNN viewers to attend church weekly and earn $75,000 or more a year.
- 79 percent of Fox News viewers describe their political views as conservative, 17 percent as moderate, and 2 percent as liberal. Among CNN viewers, 21 percent are conservative, 51 percent moderate, and 26 percent liberal.
- Nearly all Fox viewers — 97 percent — disapprove of the job President Barack Obama is doing, as do 40 percent of CNN viewers.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.