Two-thirds of US adults tuning out political news, poll finds
Al Jazeera
After months of presidential election coverage, new poll highlights years-long trend of political fatigue in US.
After a year dominated by a relentless and intense United States presidential election campaign, Americans are looking for a break from political news, a new poll suggests.
The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released on Thursday found that 65 percent of US adults said they felt the need to limit media consumption about politics and government “due to information overload [and] fatigue”.
Broken down by political affiliation, about seven in 10 Democratic Party voters – 72 percent – said they were taking a step back from political news. Fifty-nine percent of Republicans said the same as did 63 percent of independents.
“People are mentally exhausted,” Ziad Aunallah, a 45-year-old in San Diego, California, told AP. “Everyone knows what is coming, and we are just taking some time off.”
The survey, conducted in early December, comes weeks after Republican Donald Trump secured a victory in the November 5 presidential election over his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
