538
submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Non-paywall link

There is an assumption, probably particularly among those who cover the news and those who read it, that Donald Trump’s legal travails are common knowledge. We talk about things like the potential effects of a Trump conviction on the 2024 presidential election with the assumption that this would be an event that rose to the nation’s consciousness, triggering a response from both his supporters and detractors.

But this is a sort of vanity: Just because it is interesting to us certainly doesn’t mean it is interesting to others. Polling released by CNN on Thursday shows that only a quarter of voters seek out news about the campaign; a third pay little to no attention at all.

As it turns out, even major developments often fly under the average American’s radar. New polling conducted by YouGov shows that only a bit over half of the country on average is aware of the various legal challenges Trump faces. And among those Republicans on whose political support he depends? Consistently, only a minority say they are aware of his lawsuits and charges.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] frickineh@lemmy.world 38 points 9 months ago

I don't buy it. He talks about it himself nonstop. I'm pretty sure people just ignore it because they don't care and they're voting for him either way

[-] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 28 points 9 months ago

Think of it this way. Plenty of people love Captain America or Superman. They might watch a movie once a year, and never buy the comics, but they have a sincere love of the character and feel excitement when they see a cartoon or meme of their hero.

That's what it's like for many Trump supporters. Just knowing he's out there scaring the Libs is enough for them.

[-] shasta@lemm.ee 7 points 9 months ago

Yes, I know these people personally. They don't watch the news, and they don't even know what Trump sounds like. They still believe the lies they bought into decades ago about the Republicans cutting taxes for them and fighting off the trans movement that they think is just brainwashed kids. All they know of Trump is they liked The Apprentice when it was on TV, which rarely featured him in order to make him seem like an important and dominant figure. That's good enough for them. They have 0 interest in actual events or facts.

[-] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 6 points 9 months ago

I remember my third grade teacher saying that it was every American citizen's duty to be well informed. Plenty of quotes from the Founding Fathers about the importance of newspapers and public engagement. I guess they missed that day of school.

[-] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world -1 points 9 months ago

Reading newspapers is not a great yardstick for information.

[-] TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.id 3 points 9 months ago

Yes it is. I guarantee you that someone who regularly reads a reputable major daily is going to be better-informed than 90 percent of the public. Your attitude is part of the problem too. The vast majority of Americans are functionally illiterate when it comes to news media and don't have any idea of how to evaluate credibility and accuracy.

I mostly blame the Internet for trashing the signal-to-noise ratio, but I also blame our education system and the profession of journalism itself for not giving people better epistemic toolkits.

[-] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

"reputable major daily" is a much smaller subset than "newspaper". Also they have to read more than just the sports page and gossip column.

I'd also bet most educated votes haven't touched newsprint for years.

The vast majority of Americans are functionally illiterate when it comes to news media and don't have any idea of how to evaluate credibility and accuracy.

Agreed. I would argue that this extends into the population that reads media.

[-] bedrooms@kbin.social 8 points 9 months ago

If you check r/conservative these won't even appear in the TL, so I wouldn't be surprised if many of them aren't exposed to these news.

[-] jimbo@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

You have to understand that conservative media right now barely features anything that Trump actually has said or done. It's all made up bullshit and mythology about him and how great his is. My own mother consumes this media all the time and has told me that Trump looks healthier and stronger than ever. That's what these people are being fed.

[-] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 1 points 9 months ago

Maybe she's seen some of ben garrison's cartoons, where he draws the orange lardass as an adonis bc he really really wants some of that floppy micropeen all up inside him.

this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2024
538 points (96.5% liked)

News

23259 readers
3519 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS