More Americans focused on political news than usual: Gallup

More Americans are paying attention to political news than is typical when there is not a presidential election upcoming, according to a new poll. 

Each September, Gallup updates its annual measure of Americans’ attentiveness to national political news. The latest survey found 38 percent of U.S. adults polled said they follow news about national politics “very closely,” and 40 percent follow it “somewhat closely.” Another 16 percent indicated they follow the political news “not too closely” and 6 percent “not at all.” 

The 38 percent “very closely” figure is down from 42 percent in 2020, just two months before the presidential election, but it represents the most recorded in a nonpresidential year since 2001. 

The next highest in non-national-election years were in 2009 and 2017, when 36 percent said they followed political news very closely soon after the election of former presidents Obama and Trump, respectively. 

Forty-five percent of Republican respondents say they are following political news closely during President Biden’s first year in office, compared to 40 percent of Democrats, which is down 11 percentage points from last year. 

Separately, less than 25 percent of all adults under the age of 34 said they follow political news very closely, as opposed to adults 55 and older, of which 49 percent indicated they do. 

The latest Gallup poll was conducted Sept. 1-17 among 1,005 adults. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.