In the wake of 2020 election, pundits and media experts began reporting that large swaths of conservative news audiences were abandoning Fox News in favor of competitor media outlets with unabashedly pro-Trump views, namely, Newsmax and One America News Network. But a recent Pew Research Center survey reveals that the top-rated cable network retains its dominance as a source of political news among both Republicans and Americans overall.
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Nearly half (43 percent) of all U.S. adults surveyed said they got their political news from Fox in the last week, roughly the same percentage of Americans (39 percent) who said the same in November 2019. This is more than four times the number of viewers who said they get their news from Newsmax (10 percent) and more than six times the number who get their news from OAN (seven percent).
Among Americans who identify as Republican or Republican-leaning, the number who got news from Fox in the last week is much higher (62 percent), compared with 21 percent who said they watched Newsmax and the 14 percent who watched OAN.
In fact, the survey suggests that Fox retains a broader appeal across the conservative spectrum than competing networks like Newsmax or OAN and that the U.S. viewers who comprise the glut of Fox’s audience aren’t typically inclined to watch those hyper-conservative alternatives. Only 10 percent of self-described moderate or liberal Republicans said they watch Newsmax. Only seven percent of this group said they watch OAN, compared to 55 percent of moderate and liberal Republicans who watch Fox. And while Newsmax and OAN score highest among Americans identifying as Republican conservatives (27 percent and 19 percent, respectively), far more of this group are inclined to watch Fox as well (66 percent).
On the other hand, most Newsmax and OAN viewers admitted they also regularly turn to Fox for political news as well. More than three-quarters (77 percent) of adults who get political news from Newsmax also watch Fox, while nearly the same number (69 percent) of OAN consumers said the same.
Despite Newsmax and OAN’s temporary surge in popularity following the 2020 election, the Pew survey found that the audiences for these networks remain similar in size to the number of Americans who read HuffPost (nice percent), The Hill (8 percent), or Sean Hannity’s radio show on (7 percent).
Pew’s survey polled 12,0000 adult respondents drawn from its American Trends Panel, a nationally representative list of randomly selected respondents. Surveys were conducted between March 8-14.
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