The Seven "Nations" of Political Talk
Just a few weeks prior to the
2008 elections, we conducted a nationally representative
survey of 2,164 American adults aged 18+. This was a period
of heightened political interest and discussion, due to the
historic campaigns of then Senators Barack Obama and John
McCain. Among many other questions, we asked respondents
how often they watch or listen to six of the major
political commentators in the media today: Rush Limbaugh,
Sean Hannity & Alan Colmes, Bill O’Reilly, John
Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Keith Olberman.
What follows is an analysis of the size, political
leanings, demographic characteristics, values and attitudes
of each “nation” of political talk within the United
States. Please note that there is some overlap between
these different audiences, with some Americans who tune in
to more than one commentator. We have also compared the
characteristics of each audience to the much larger
proportion of the public (57%) who do not watch or listen
to any of these commentators.
While there are some predictable patterns, such as
conservative commentators attracting more conservative
audiences and liberal commentators attracting more liberal
audiences, it is also interesting to note that each
audience is more diverse than these simple stereotypes. As
just one example, some Democrats and liberals listen to
Rush Limbaugh, while some Republicans and conservatives
watch Keith Olberman. Likewise, while majorities of Sean
Hannity watchers have strongly conservative values, not all
do, just as not all John Stewart watchers have liberal
values.
Lots of fun and surprising results in here.
Enjoy.
How often do you watch or listen to the following shows?
("often"
and
"sometimes"
combined)
Using U.S.
Census estimates for the American population for November,
2008 we can roughly approximate the size of each audience.
Note that the survey question asked: “How often do you
watch or listen to the following shows?” The response
categories were: “often”, “sometimes”, “hardly ever”, and
“never”. The estimates below are based on those respondents
that said they tuned in either “often” or “sometimes.”
Again, these are just approximations. It is also important
to note that these results come from the period just before
the 2008 election, when interest and fervor were at their
peak. It is certainly plausible that audience sizes have
decreased since then.
Total U.S. Adult (18+) Population = 231,500,000
-
Rush Limbaugh = 27,777,000
-
Sean Hannity & Alan Colmes = 32,406,000
-
Bill O’Reilly = 43,980,000
-
None = 131,939,000
-
John Stewart = 37,036,000
-
Stephen Colbert = 34,721,000
-
Keith Olberman = 27,777,000
POLITICAL LEANINGS
Generally speaking, do you think of yourself as a...
In general, do you think of yourself as…
Are you registered to vote?
If the 2008 presidential election were being held today, who would you vote for? (late October, 2008)
AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHICS
VALUES AND ATTITUDES
Please tell us how strongly you agree or disagree with each statement below.
("somewhat agree" and "strongly agree" combined)
METHODS
In September and October of 2008, a nationally representative survey of 2,164 American adults was conducted by researchers at Yale and George Mason Universities. Respondents completed two separate questionnaires, two weeks apart, using the nationally representative online panel of Knowledge Networks. The within-panel completion rate was 54 percent. The margin of error for each of the audiences ranges from +/- 1.4% to 3.1% from the largest audience (None) to the smallest (Limbaugh and Olberman).