About seven-in-ten Americans surveyed in September (69%) say they are following news about the presidential candidates for the 2024 election very (28%) or fairly (40%) closely.
More people say they are tuning in to election news as Election Day gets closer. In April, 58% of U.S. adults said they were following the election at least fairly closely, and by July, that number had risen to 65%. Attention in 2020 also increased closer to that election.
A survey conducted in late August and early September 2020 found that 66% of Americans said they were very or fairly closely following news about candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump, while in late September and early October 2016, 74% of respondents were following news about Trump and Hillary Clinton.
This year, the rise in attention to the election has been driven by Democrats. While Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP were somewhat more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to be following the election at least fairly closely in April and July, the two parties are now about equally likely to say they are following news about the candidates very or fairly closely (70% vs. 71%, respectively).
The July survey was conducted July 1-7, before Biden announced his withdrawal as the Democratic candidate on July 21. On Aug. 5, Vice President Kamala Harris was confirmed as his replacement.
Older Americans are paying much closer attention to election news than are younger adults, mirroring patterns in overall attention to news. About half of U.S. adults ages 18 to 29 (53%) say they are following news about the candidates at least fairly closely, compared with 85% of those ages 65 and older. And older adults are nearly four times as likely as Americans under 30 to say they’re following election news very closely (46% vs. 12%).
The 2024 campaign events that Americans have heard or read about most
In a 2024 presidential campaign season that has seen a number of major and dramatic events, three of them stand out in terms of the public’s exposure to that news.
Fully 70% of U.S. adults say they have heard or read a lot about Harris replacing Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate.
Close behind is the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump during a Pennsylvania rally, with 66% saying they have heard a lot about that. (The survey questions were finalized before the second assassination attempt on Trump in September.)
Finally, reinforcing reports of a large viewing audience, 64% of Americans say they heard a lot about the Sept. 10 ABC debate between Trump and Harris.
Much smaller shares say they have heard or read a lot about several other topics mentioned in the survey. These include the vice presidential candidates, Republican JD Vance (36%) and Democrat Tim Walz (32%); the Democratic (29%) and Republican (24%) National Conventions; and third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsing Trump when he withdrew from the race (22%).
Still, large majorities say they have heard at least a little about each of these topics.
Similar shares of the two parties say they have heard or read a lot about the first attempted assassination of Trump in July. But on each other campaign topic measured by the survey, there are partisan differences in how much people have heard.
For instance, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they have heard or read a lot about Harris replacing Biden as the nominee (76% vs. 67%). And the gap is larger when it comes to the debate between Harris and Trump, with 72% of Democrats saying they heard a lot about it, compared with 58% of Republicans.
Democrats also are more likely than Republicans to have heard a lot about not only Walz (41% vs. 25%) but also Vance (41% vs. 34%).
Four-in-ten Democrats say they heard or read a lot about the Democratic National Convention, compared with 21% of Republicans who say the same. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they heard a lot about the Republican National Convention, but the gap is smaller (29% vs. 20%).
Republicans are modestly more likely than Democrats to say they have heard or read a lot about Kennedy endorsing Trump when he dropped out of the race (27% vs. 19%).
What Americans want in campaign coverage – and what they actually see
The survey asked respondents what kinds of news about the presidential candidates they are most interested in seeing.
- Topping the list is news about the candidates’ stances on issues, with 75% of U.S. adults saying they are extremely or very interested in this.
- 60% are extremely or very interested in the candidates’ moral characters.
- About half are highly interested in the candidates’ career experiences and their actions and comments on the campaign trail (49% each).
- 42% express high levels of interest in who is leading the race.
- And trailing far behind, only 14% say they are extremely or very interested in the candidates’ personal lives.
Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are considerably more likely than Republicans and GOP leaners to be highly interested in the candidates’ moral characters (69% vs. 52%).
The survey also asked which of these six types of election news Americans see most often, and the top areas of interest for Americans do not always line up with what they are actually seeing the most news about.
By far, the leading topic seen by Americans is news about the candidates’ actions and comments on the campaign trail: 40% say they see the most news about this, even though it is not among the top two topics in terms of interest.
Smaller shares say they see the most news about the candidates’ stances on issues (17%), the candidates’ moral characters (14%) or the political horse race (13%). Just 8% say the most common type of election news they see involves the candidates’ personal lives, while 3% most often see news about the candidates’ career experiences.
