How todays voters get their political news Polls conducted on - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

How today’s voters get their political news Polls conducted on behalf of the London Press Club and Society of Editors

Today’s voters still favour traditional news sources Which of the following do you tend to get political news from, either in printed or online format, very regularly? 45% 86 of the general public tend to get their political news from a newspaper/magazine (92% of 60 Opinion Formers) 54 32 22 22 20 19 18 16 16 6 6 15 5 5 14 13 13 3 8 8 BBC News Guardian Facebook Daily Mail Sky News HuffPo Twitter Telegraph The Metro The Times Evening Standard General public Opinion Formers Base: All GB adults (1,601); All Opinion Formers (721) 2 Note: Chart shows top 10 responses based on general public data, plus the Evening Standard and The Metro

However, younger voters are turning towards newer digital sources Which of the following do you tend to get political news from, either in printed or online format, very regularly? 42% 64 60 of 18-24 year olds tend to get their political news from a new digital source (vs. 18% of people aged 25+) 26 23 20 16 16 15 14 14 13 13 13 11 8 8 8 8 6 4 5 5 3 1 BBC News Guardian Facebook Buzzfeed Twitter Daily Mail Sky News HuffPo Telegraph The Sun The Metro Evening Standard All GB 18-24 Base: All GB adults (1,601); 18-24 year olds (186) 3 Note: Chart shows top 10 responses based on 18-24 year old data, plus the Metro and Evening Standard

Overall, traditional news sources are seen as more important and more influential than social media Thinking back to the General Election earlier this year, how important were each of the following in helping you choose who to vote for or in confirming your choice of who to vote for? / And how much influence , if any, do you think each of the following had in helping you choose who to vote for or in confirming your choice of who to vote for? General public Opinion Formers 59 54 53 53 47 45 42 38 37 35 32 32 32 27 26 26 25 24 23 23 21 20 18 18 Television Family Newspapers, Friends & Radio Social media Newspapers, Radio Television Friends & Family Social media members magazines colleagues magazines colleagues members Important Influential Important Influential Base: All GB adults (1,601); All Opinion Formers (721) Note: Chart shows % saying that each source was important (“very important” plus “reasonably important”) 4 and influential (“a great deal of influence” plus “a substantial amount of influence” plus “some influence”).

But, it’s the other way round for younger voters Thinking back to the General Election earlier this year, how important were each of the following in helping you choose who to vote for or in confirming your choice of who to vote for? / And how much influence , if any, do you think each of the following had in helping you choose who to vote for or in confirming your choice of who to vote for? In comparison, just 15% of 18-24 year olds say that newspapers are 50% important in helping them to decide who to vote for and 28% say that of 18-24 year olds think social newspapers have at least some media is influential ; 39% think it is important* influence in helping them choose who to vote for *Amongst the total sample, just 18% think social media is important and 16% think it is influential. Base: All GB adults (1,601); 18-24 year olds (186) Note: Chart shows % saying that each source was important (“very important” plus “reasonably important”) 5 and influential (“a great deal of influence” plus “a substantial amount of influence” plus “some influence”).

Around one in five voters and Opinion Formers think the media influenced the outcome of the election In general, how would you describe the performance of the media over the course of the 2017 General Election? BBC Daily Mail The Sun Facebook Twitter 15% 7% 7% 8% 5% 16 Influenced the outcome 20 20% 12% 8% 18% 14% 26% 3% 2% 4% 3% 7 Fair and balanced 45% 2% 1% 1% 2% 9 14% 2% 2% 1% 2% 4 Accurately reported the facts 29% 1% 1% 7 2% 1% 6 Base: All GB adults (1,601); All Opinion Formers (721)

Both traditional and social media are thought to have an impact on the election To what extent, if at all, do you either agree or disagree with the following statements? % of 18-24s Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Don't know agreeing The advent of the digital age has diminished the 63% 58 17 10 15 influence of newspapers The role of newspapers in general elections has a 48 21 15 15 45% significant impact on the outcome Without social media the election result would have 44 20 16 21 58% been quite different The role of newspapers in general elections and their 32 24 28 15 34% influence on the outcome is greatly overstated Base: All GB adults (1,601); 18-24 year olds (186) Note: Chart shows % saying that each source was important (“very important” plus “reasonably important”) 7 and influential (“a great deal of influence” plus “a substantial amount of influence” plus “some influence”).

But endorsement of political parties is not necessarily seen as a good thing To what extent, if at all, do you either agree or disagree with the following statements? Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Don't know When publications endorse a political party in the 43 26 12 19 General Election this is damaging for democracy Publications endorsing a political party at a General 23 32 20 26 Election gives more transparency of the press Base: All GB adults (1,601) Note: Chart shows % saying that each source was important (“very important” plus “reasonably important”) 8 and influential (“a great deal of influence” plus “a substantial amount of influence” plus “some influence”).

Voters and Opinion Formers alike are most likely to recall the Daily Mail supporting a political party Thinking about the following news publications, do you recall any of them coming out in support of a particular political party? General public Yes Yes, but can't remember for which party 5 7 35 6 33 4 5 4 24 21 19 4 4 15 3 3 4 7 6 4 3 4 Daily Mail The Sun Daily Guardian Telegraph The Times Evening The FT The New The Metro Mirror Standard Economist Statesman Opinion Formers 3 2 5 4 3 80 75 70 68 6 65 5 4 51 7 39 5 37 24 3 23 8 Daily Mail Telegraph Guardian The Sun Daily The Times Evening New The FT The The Metro Mirror Standard Statesman Economist 9 Base: All GB adults (1,601); All Opinion Formers (721)

For both voters and Opinion Formers, newspapers primarily confirm their choice of party rather than changing that choice And when it became clear which party the publication supported, which of the following, if any, did it make you feel? Made me switch which party I was Made me more likely to vote for the Made me less likely to vote for the going to vote for party I was going to vote for party I was going to vote for General Public Opinion Formers % saying the paper % saying the paper made a difference made a difference Daily Mail (n=577) 1 20 5 Guardian (n=356) 24 3 27% 26% Guardian (n=504) 20 2 The Sun (n=557) 2 17 5 24% 22% The Sun (n=491) 1 18 3 Daily Mail (n=597) 20 2 22% 22% FT (n=176) 1 16 3 20% The Times (n=237) 4 14 2 20% Telegraph (n=540) 16 3 19% 1 15 4 FT (n=99) 20% The Times (n=367) 15 3 18% Daily Mirror (n=417) 14 3 17% Evening Standard (n=278) 16 2 18% Evening Standard (n=109) 13 4 17% 14% Daily Mirror (n=469) 12 2 Telegraph (n=314) 13 3 16% Base: All GB adults and Opinion Formers who could recall each paper coming out in support of a 10 particular party (base sizes vary and are shown on the chart)

How today’s voters get their political news Polls conducted on behalf of the London Press Club and Society of Editors