From viewers to voters: Tracing Fox News’ impact on American democracy

This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of the effect of Fox News Channel (FNC) on the mass public’s political preferences and voting behavior in the United States from 2000 to 2020. We show that FNC has shifted the ideology and partisan identity of Americans rightward. This shift has helped...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of public economics 2024-12, Vol.240, p.105256, Article 105256
Main Authors: Ash, Elliott, Galletta, Sergio, Pinna, Matteo, Warshaw, Christopher S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Elections
Fox News
Media
Voting
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of the effect of Fox News Channel (FNC) on the mass public’s political preferences and voting behavior in the United States from 2000 to 2020. We show that FNC has shifted the ideology and partisan identity of Americans rightward. This shift has helped Republican candidates in elections across levels of U.S. government over the past decade. Our estimates suggests that an increase of 0.05 rating points in Fox News viewership, induced by exogenous changes in channel placement, has increased Republican vote shares by at least 0.5 percentage points in recent presidential, Senate, House, and gubernatorial elections. Our findings have broad implications for political behavior, elections, and the political process in the United States. •Fox News viewership shifted American ideology and party identity rightward.•A 0.05 rise in Fox ratings increased Republican vote shares by 0.5% in elections.•Fox News influenced presidential, Senate, House, and gubernatorial races.
ISSN:0047-2727
DOI:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105256