Republican primary voters are avid Fox News watchers and Trump supporters, but new research finds that Republicans who don’t watch Fox are less supportive of Trump.
The New York Times reported some recent New York Times/Siena College polls:
One hundred percent of Republicans in our poll who said they got their news from Fox News or other conservative sources said they intended to support Trump in the general election. This is in contrast to Republicans, whose primary media sources are outlets such as CNN and major news outlets: 79% of them plan to vote for Trump, and 13% said they plan to vote for President Biden.
And by many metrics, mainstream media Republicans are less supportive of Trump. They are 20 percentage points less likely than conservative media Republicans to say they are enthusiastic about Trump as the party’s nominee and more than 30 percentage points less likely to say Trump’s policies have helped them personally.
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The poll also found that the number of Republicans who get their news from non-Fox/conservative media is about the same as those who get their news from Fox and conservative media. Both groups made up about 30% each of the survey.
Donald Trump depends heavily on Fox News and conservative media, but the general Republican electorate is very different and less pro-Trump than the primary electorate. Thirteen percent of Republicans surveyed who don’t watch Fox News said they would vote for President Biden.
By running his media campaign through Fox News/Newsmax/conservative media, Trump is not reaching any new voters. Trump is talking to people who will already vote for him.
The problem could be solved if Trump had a large war chest to spend on advertising to reach more voters, but Trump’s campaign struggles to raise money and President Biden currently holds a nearly 4-to-1 advantage in fundraising.
If Trump continues to depend on Fox News, it would be surprising if its results were the same or worse for him in November.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a member of the White House press pool and a congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a bachelor’s degree in political science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
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