How 'media consumption' sheds light on shocking election outcome

11 November 2024

On Election Night 2024, Democrats were not only disappointed by President-elect Donald Trump's decisive victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, but also, by Republicans retaking the U.S. Senate. Moreover, vote counting indicates that Republicans are likely to hold their small majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Many Democratic strategists have been asking: What went wrong?

In an article published by Politico on November 9, Steven Waldman (president of the group Rebuild Local News) stresses that media consumption played an influential role in the election's outcome.

"The exit polls did not ask about media consumption, so we need to look for indirect clues," Waldman explains. "NBC asked the question in April, when President Joe Biden was still in the race, and the results were dramatic. Among people who got their news from 'newspapers,' Biden was winning 70-21. Among people who got their news from 'YouTube/Google,' Trump led 55-39."

Waldman adds, "The exit polls this week did show that some of the biggest shifts in voting patterns came among young people and Latinos, two groups whose media consumption differs from the national average."

Waldman points out that Biden, as a presidential candidate, "won 18- to 21-year-olds by 60-36 percent," whereas Harris won that demographic by "only 55-42 percent."

"There's no group where the information consumption has changed more than young people," Waldman notes. "While 3 percent of seniors get their information from social media, 46 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds do."

Read Politico's full report at this link.

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