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While cable news networks CNN and MSNBC are still seeing huge declines in viewership for their TV shows after the election, a… New Associated Press poll He finds that most Americans are exhausted since Donald Trump’s electoral victory and have turned away from political news.
The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in early December found that nearly two-thirds of respondents said they had “recently felt the need to limit media consumption about politics and government due to overload.” Some participants explained why they felt tired and needed to step away.
“People are mentally exhausted,” said Ziad Aoun Allah, a 45-year-old Democrat from San Diego. “Everyone knows what’s coming and we’re just taking some time.”
The survey also shows that politics figures prominently in terms of media consumption, as Americans remain interested in news related to climate change, the economy and foreign conflicts.
Another Democratic respondent to the AP poll said election news on CNN and MSNBC took up too much of his time, adding that “the last thing I want to watch right now is an interregnum.”
In fact, about seven in 10 Democrats told the AP that they take a break from political news. While the numbers were not as high for Republicans, who celebrated Trump’s victory, about 60% still said they also needed to stay out of politics. The same number of independents have similar opinions.
The political fatigue and weariness Democrats feel with Trump’s victory is weighing on the decline in viewership for CNN and MSNBC.
From the election until last week, CNN saw its total daily audience drop 35 percent to just 331,000 viewers. In prime time, the network is averaging 400,000 viewers, a 46 percent drop after the election, according to Nielsen Media Research.
MSNBC, long identified as an anti-Trump destination for liberals, saw its total daily audience decline by 47 percent, and its prime-time viewership fell by 54 percent to an average audience of just 615,000 viewers. The ratings problems have become so dire for the left-leaning channel that it was recently beaten in the coveted 25-54 advertising category by NewsNation, a smaller, “centrist” cable channel that typically pulls a fraction of MSNBC’s ratings.
On the other hand, Fox News saw a ratings spike after the election. The conservative cable giant, which appeals directly to Trump supporters and has seen many of its on-air personalities join the incoming president’s administration, was up 12 percent in primetime to an average of 2.65 million viewers. It also accounts for 72 percent of post-election prime-time cable news viewership.
At the same time, it is not a new phenomenon for fans of the losing presidential candidate to turn away from partisan news after the election. MSNBC saw the same thing in 2016 after Hillary Clinton lost to Trump, but “resistant” liberals quickly flocked to the network after Trump took office.
Fox News also saw disgruntled MAGA viewers flee the right-wing network after Trump’s 2020 loss, angry about it. Early but subtle channel call Arizona for Joe Biden. At one point, the network had a large following She briefly found herself in third place Behind CNN and MSNBC, only for conservative viewers to return to watching after Biden’s inauguration and once again make it the top-rated cable channel.
CNN and MSNBC have not yet conceded defeat, which essentially points to historical trends of opponents of the new president returning to the scene after the end of an electoral recession. Both networks also highlighted 2024’s overall ratings wins in year-end press releases, while CNN boasted about its streaming and digital traffic.
“I will come back again as soon as the clown show starts,” Aoun Allah told the Associated Press. “You don’t have a choice. Whether you want to hear it or not, it’s happening. If you care about your country, you have no choice but to care about it.”
However, the ride may be more difficult for the networks than in 2016. A growing number of Americans are cutting cable from cable companies, and post-election audience erosion is more serious for CNN and MSNBC than it was for CNN and MSNBC. In the previous post-election recession.
It also remains to be seen how each network’s institutional strategies will be implemented throughout the new administration. Comcast, the parent company of MSNBC, is spinning off the network — along with other cable properties — into a new company, ultimately severing the channel’s ties with NBC News.
CNN, meanwhile Leaning over On its digital platforms, it launched a new paywall feature, noting that its websites receive an average of approximately 150 million visitors per month.
As for what satellite news networks can do to engage those who have been burned out by politics again, some of those surveyed said the channels “have to talk about the issues, you have to stop talking about Trump” to expand their audience.
“It’s kind of their fault that I’m not watching,” Aoun Allah added. I felt like they spent all this time talking about the election. They make it so their focus that when the main event is over, why would people want to keep watching?
