Press Release | Pew Research Center
A new Pew Research Center report finds that most Americans (68%) often or sometimes get news about local government and politics, but only a quarter of those local political news consumers say they are highly satisfied with coverage quality. This is a lower level of satisfaction than for most other news topics included in the survey.
This is a Pew Research Center report from the Pew-Knight Initiative, a research program funded jointly by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. It is also the second part of a series examining how people in the United States engage with local news. The report is based on a survey of 5,146 U.S. adults conducted Jan. 22-28, 2024, using the Center’s American Trends Panel. Among the key findings:
- Some Americans struggle to access information they need to make decision in local elections. Although most Americans are interested in news about elections, fewer than half (45%) say it is very or somewhat easy to find the information they need to make voting decisions in local elections. By comparison, 59% say it is easy to find information for presidential elections.
- Americans are more interested in national than local political news. More Americans say they are at least somewhat interested in presidential elections (81%) than say the same about local elections (70%). The gap is larger when looking at the share who are extremely or very interested in presidential (54%) and local (34%) elections.
- Americans get news about local government and politics from a variety of sources. The most common are friends, family and neighbors (70%), and local news outlets (66%). Just over half say they often or sometimes get local political news from social media.
- Americans who feel more attached to their community are more interested in local political news. Among U.S. adults who feel very attached to their community, 91% are at least somewhat interested in news about local laws and policies, compared with 68% of those who are not very or not at all attached. A similar pattern holds for interest in news about local elections.
Also read part one of this series: Americans’ Changing Relationship With Local News
For more information about the study, contact safkari@pewresearch.org.
The Pew-Knight Initiative supports new research on how Americans absorb civic information, form beliefs and identities, and engage in their communities. Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. Knight Foundation is a social investor committed to supporting informed and engaged communities.
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