A new Pew Research Center study shows that local news is watched more by people who do two things: have a strong connection to their local community and always vote in local elections.
The study done in association with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation shows those who say they always vote in local elections “display stronger local news habits across a range of measures: news interest, news intake (the number and types of sources they turn to) and news attitudes – their views of local news organizations.”
But the study stops short of saying local news organizations are doing a good job. Only 35 percent of those “highly attached” to their community think the local news is doing a good job, the number drops to 27 percent for those who always vote.
Unlike local voting, however, regularly voting in national elections alone does not relate to stronger local news habits. Those who vote regularly in national elections – but not local elections – match those who do not vote regularly in either local or national elections in their more limited enthusiasm for local news.
While there is some overlap between those who are highly attached to their communities and regular local voters, these are largely separate groups: Only about a third (32%) of regular voters also consider themselves highly attached to their communities. And just under half (45%) of the highly attached are regular voters. Together, then, the two groups amount to 37% of U.S. adults – and these individuals discuss news more frequently than others, perhaps giving them greater influence on the public conversation about community affairs.
Another trait closely associated with broad community attachment is how well one knows their neighbors (23% of U.S. adults), which indeed reveals a similarly consistent connection to all three areas of local news habits. Fully half (52%) of those who know all their neighbors, for example, follow local news very closely, compared with 32% who don’t know any of their neighbors. And 71% say the local media are in touch with their communities versus about half (49%) of those who don’t know their neighbor.
