Leading up to the election, Trump voters trusted friends and family over traditional media, survey finds

Rural and urban. Blue and white collar. College and high school educated. There are many so-called “divides” in American politics.

In a new survey, Northeastern University researcher John Wihbey adds another: a news divide—where voters for Republican Donald Trump were more likely to get election information from family and friends compared to Democratic and independent voters who generally relied on traditional media.

“Trump voters and persons inclined towards Trump got a lot of their information from friends and family, which speaks to a kind of network tribalism that is apparent in American politics now,” says Wihbey, associate professor of media innovation and technology at Northeastern.

“You can see a general reduction in the ability of high-quality news media to reach a lot of the citizenry,” Wihbey continues. “And you can also see a great deal of dissatisfaction on behalf of the citizenry toward both national and local news, so the traditional institutions that have anchored democracy for many generations have kind of withered.”

The findings come from the latest Civic Health and Institutions Project (CHIP50), a 50-state survey effort that polls Americans on opinions and behaviors. It is co-directed by David Lazer, university distinguished professor of political science and computer sciences, with assistance from doctoral students Allison Wan, Alexi Quintana Mathé, Ata Uslu and Hong Qu. More than 25,000 adults from all 50 states and the District of Columbia responded to the survey between Aug. 30 and Oct. 8.

According to the survey, friends and family (29%) and the news media (26%) are the top sources Americans use for voting information.

There are a number of demographic splits, however, between these two sources.

Americans ages 18 to 24 and those with less formal education lean more on personal networks; while those 65 and older and those with higher education and income favor the news media, according to the survey.

Perhaps most interesting following Tuesday’s election, Democrats and independents were more likely to rely on news media than Republicans, 29% to 24%, respectively. Republicans more often pointed to friends and family (34% vs. 27% for Democrats) as the source of their election information.

The survey highlights the crisis facing journalism, as news sources dwindle, trust in media remains low, and the traditional media business model crashes.

It also suggests why Trump prevailed in Tuesday’s election.

“Despite all of the challenges and all of the many ways that he seemed to almost undercut himself over and over again, the Trump brand just grew stronger,” Wihbey says. “I have to think that is, in part, because a lot of the negative and critical coverage of him just never reached people.”

Meanwhile, Democrat Kamala Harris—who only became the party’s nominee three months ago—failed to break through the media bubble.

“It was sort of like ‘too little too late,’ to establish a national candidacy—you used to spend an enormous amount of time and money, and they certainly spent money, but they didn’t have a lot of time,” WIhbey says.

“I think the big conclusion is that people are really starting to get information and news about candidates in fundamentally different ways than they did in the prior century,” Wihbey continues. “This election is—in many ways—the first full affirmation of that.”

This story is republished courtesy of Northeastern Global News news.northeastern.edu.