There is no consensus among Americans about how easy it is to find reliable information about the presidential election.
About four-in-ten U.S. adults (39%) say it has been very or somewhat easy to find reliable information about the 2024 presidential election, somewhat larger than the share who have found it very or somewhat difficult (28%). An additional 32% say it has been neither easy nor difficult.
By party and ideology
Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to say finding reliable information has been easy, while Republicans are more inclined to say it’s been difficult.
Around half of Democrats and independents who lean Democratic (52%) say it’s been very or somewhat easy to find reliable information about the 2024 election, compared with 29% of Republicans and Republican leaners who say the same.
On the other hand, Republicans are about twice as likely as Democrats to say it’s been at least somewhat difficult to find reliable election information (39% vs. 18%).
In both parties, views differ by ideology:
- Conservative Republicans are slightly more likely than Republicans who describe themselves as moderate or liberal to say it’s been difficult to find reliable information (42% vs. 35%).
- Liberal Democrats are more likely than conservative or moderate Democrats to say that finding reliable information has been easy (62% vs. 44%).
Broad assessments of election coverage
A majority of Americans (58%) think the news media have covered the 2024 election well, including 13% who think they have covered it very well. On the other hand, 41% say the news media have done not too (26%) or not at all (15%) well covering the presidential race.
Americans’ views on campaign media coverage were almost identical at the same point in the 2020 election cycle.
By party
As in 2020, Republicans are much more critical of election coverage than Democrats. Six-in-ten Republicans say the news media have not covered the 2024 presidential campaign well, compared with just 22% of Democrats who hold this view.
And among Republicans, conservatives (69%) are much more likely than those who identify as moderate or liberal (47%) to think the news media are not doing a good job covering the 2024 election.
Within each party, responses differ by age group. Among Republicans, those under 30 are more likely than older adults to say that the media are doing at least somewhat well: 51% say this, versus 42% of those ages 30 to 49 and about a third of those ages 50 and older.
Among Democrats, the opposite is true: Adults under 30 are less likely than their elders to say the news media are covering the election well, though a 69% majority still say this.
Americans’ views of news sources they turn to most for election news
Americans are much more positive in their assessments of the sources they turn to most often for news about the presidential election than they are about the news media as a whole.
Around eight-in-ten U.S. adults (81%) say the news sources they turn to most often have covered the 2024 election very (27%) or somewhat (54%) well. Far fewer say their go-to sources have covered the presidential election not too (15%) or not at all (3%) well.
Americans held similar views about 2020 election coverage by their most common news sources.
By party
Even when it comes to the news sources they use most often, Republicans are twice as likely as Democrats to say these sources have not covered the 2024 election well (22% vs. 11%).
But Republicans see their own main sources of election news in a much more positive light than the news media in general. The vast majority of both Republicans (77%) and Democrats (87%) say their most-used news sources have covered this election cycle at least somewhat well.
Election news fatigue
A majority of Americans (59%) say they are worn out by so much coverage of the 2024 presidential election. This figure has been roughly consistent since we first asked this question in 2016.
Meanwhile, about four-in-ten say they like seeing a lot of coverage of the campaign and candidates. Similar to when this question was asked in the spring, those who are following the election more closely are more likely to say that they like seeing a lot of coverage of the campaign and candidates.
Republicans and Democrats agree on this: 59% of Americans in each party say they feel worn out by so much coverage of the campaign and candidates.
This is a change from April, before President Joe Biden withdrew from the race. At that time, Democrats were slightly more likely than Republicans to say they felt worn out by so much election coverage (66% vs. 58%).
