Summary
A new AP poll reveals widespread political fatigue among Americans, with two-thirds limiting political media consumption post-Trump’s election.
Viewership on CNN and MSNBC has plummeted, with declines of 35-54%, as many Democrats and independents step away from politics.
In contrast, Fox News has seen a 12% ratings surge, dominating cable news.
The trend mirrors post-election slumps in previous cycles, though the erosion is sharper this year.
Some suggest focusing less on Trump and more on broader issues to re-engage disenchanted audiences.
I paid attention, I engaged, I voted, I urged others to vote. It didn’t matter. This country deserves what is coming.
Precisely. My only fear is the people who need the biggest punch in the face won’t get it. Or will be too stupid to understand it.
This is why Faux viewership surged. They’ll need an outlet to explain how the punch in the face was really because of Kamala’s cackle. Or Hillary’s cankles. Or because of that one trans they heard about having any sort of dignity…
They’ll get their metaphorical face punch and blame Biden, Harris, Hillary, Obama, and/or whoever else is the manufactured villain du jour
To be fair, a majority of Americans chose not-Trump for 3 elections. And that’s ignoring the fact that voters in solid blue states just didn’t show up to vote because their votes don’t matter. If we lived in a Democracy and not a Democratic Republic, I’m confident he would have lost the plurality as well.
But also, half the country didn’t ask for this. Even in solid red states like the one I live in, a third of us didn’t ask for this bullshit.
What I’m tired of is the media sanewashing domestic terrorists and centrists giving the right a free pass by not paying attention and assuming “both sides” any time literally anything happens.
I feel you. But at the same time, I’m also afraid that as they dismantle the government, the brain drain from departing/retiring federal workers and knowledge about how the parts of government (for example the NIH or the NOAA/NWS) function on the day to day (including things like historical climate data) will be lost in the chaos. I’m not paying attention now, because I think it will be more important to pay attention in a month. I’m not sure I’ll be able to handle it then either, but I don’t want some of what we do have to be lost forever because some assholes didn’t like it, and the rest of us thought they deserved it. Maybe they do deserve it, but the rest of us don’t deserve to lose it forever either.
It still mattered. Republicans won on federal level (mainly due to a successful social media campaign) but there were also some good wins for Democrats on local levels.
Highly recommend “On Tyranny” book by Timothy Snyder.
Maybe we need a third option than just two.
Sadly, a two party system is inevitable.
I had to disengage from the news a bit, too. I put my News follows on Mastodon on a separate list and stopped listening to NPR Up First.
We’re fucked, but hearing about it non-stop wasn’t good for my mental health.
Same same. Watch the pbs news hour headlines and if they’re about trump I turn it off immediately. As soon as topic switches to domestic politics I’m out. Same with Lemmy feed, adding musk, trump, RFK, and other words to my block list. It’s not that I don’t care - I do care deeply - but it’s ruining my mental health. As long as the majority of voters in this country want it my reading about the constant fucking clown show will change nothing.
I don’t know if it is exhaustion for me. It is more of lack of trust given how in the tank for Trump every major outlet was.
This is where I’m at. I’ve moved on to direct action.
No surprise, the 24/7 news is purposefully is exhausting and most things they talk about are not worth paying attention to.
Instead we should ignore things he is saying and act on things that he actually does and never obey in advance.
I’m betting a lot of people need to tune out for their mental health.
What does studying cable news do for me? Nothing. All I can do is vote. No sense in overconsumption when the Democrats seems to lose every election on purpose.
Does anyone on Lemmy have cable TV?
And beyond the exhaustion, this is how representative democracy is supposed to work. We have an election, everyone decides which candidates are taller and have better hair, then we go back to our lives and let the politicians worry about politics until the next election.
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