Unless you’ve found yourself living under a rock of late, it’s been impossible to ignore the build-up to the 2024 US election.
The politicians have held their rallies, battled through televised debates, and shaken hands with prospective voters from Alabama to Wyoming. Now all that’s left is to wait for those all-important results.
In just a few days time, we’ll discover if it’s Kamala Harris or Donald Trump who’ll find themselves occupying the Oval Office on January 20th, 2025.
Using CintSnap – a way to survey individuals and understand opinions quickly – we conducted a poll with approximately 300 people in the US to get an idea of how Americans plan on watching the results roll in on the big night.
News of the world
Politics underpins all of our day-to-day lives, and our survey indicates that Americans are pretty keen on keeping tabs on what happens at the White House or in the Senate — 91% of respondents consider themselves as individuals who very or somewhat closely follow US politics.
Given their stated interest in politics, perhaps it shouldn’t be too surprising that our respondents are certified newshounds, with nearly two thirds (61%) of those surveyed saying they watch broadcast news channels on a daily basis.
And while we can’t predict the turnout, we can be certain that the majority of Americans polled by Cint will be making an effort to watch at least some of the election coverage live on November 5th, 2024.
Nearly eight in ten respondents (78%) are likely or extremely likely to watch, whereas a combined 17% think that it’s unlikely or extremely unlikely that they’ll spend the evening watching swing states switch color.
The survey shows that watching between two to four hours of coverage is the sweet spot for nearly two fifths (37%) of American respondents. The runner-up when it comes to the amount of time people polled are prepared to plonk themselves down for a bout of televised political ceremony was one to two hours (22%).
16% of survey-takers are in it for the long-haul, letting us know that they’ll be spending over six hours in the company of their screens as the drama unfolds in TV studios and polling places across the states.
Cable is king
In the land of the free, cable TV still rules the roost. Well, when it comes to watching coverage of the upcoming election, anyway. Nearly half of respondents (47%) expect to tune into coverage provided by cable networks.
Other avenues our audience will be exploring are watching news broadcaster’s online offerings (17%) and attempting to keep abreast of the night’s comings and goings via social media (15%).
Just under a tenth of respondents (7%) won’t be watching but will be browsing online publications to get the lowdown on who looks most likely to emerge as the next president of the United States of America.
Bragging rights go to ABC
When it comes to the nation’s preferred broadcaster for election night coverage, ABC nudged just ahead of Fox News and NBC News in the polls. 35% of respondents indicated that they’ll be spending the evening glued to ABC against the 32% who voted for Fox and the 31% who opted for NBC.
CBS News and CNN rounded off the top five, with MSNBC and PBS News finding it difficult to establish a foothold in viewing habits amongst our audience. Just under a fifth (18%) of those surveyed will be looking for their punditry and analysis elsewhere.
Intriguingly, individual political beliefs don’t seem to have a demonstrably noticeable impact on why viewers pledge allegiance to certain broadcasters when it comes to consuming election night content – just 11% of respondents noted that the political stances espoused by specific TV news networks impact on election viewing habits.
The most important factors in the eyes of Cint survey-takers were:
- Quality of coverage (43%)
- Quality of hosts (15%)
- Quality of analysis (12%)
Our poll makes for bad-reading for any political commentators out there. Only 4% of people surveyed said that the quality of pundits hired by specific broadcasters for election night coverage would sway them to stick with that network for the night.
Conclusion
Elections have the power to shape countries, change history, and alter lives. They’re also, as our survey shows, a boon for news broadcasters and TV networks, putting bums on seats for hours on end.
Does the prospect of watching Harris and Trump duke it out appeal? Or are you more likely to put a film on and forget about reality for the night?
Join the conversation on our LinkedIn page.
Methodology
A ‘CintSnap’ is a snapshot into the minds of general consumers. The data featured was pulled using the Cint platform and leverages Cint’s programmatic research tech. A census demographic of approximately 300 people in the United States were surveyed for each question within a 3 hour window on the 31st October, 2024.
Cint’s research technology helps our customers to post questions and get answers from real people, in real time – and to use these insights to build business strategies, publish research, and accurately measure the impact of advertising efforts. Find out more here.
