July 22, 2025
With Election Day less than six months away, a majority of Americans say they are following news about the 2020 presidential candidates fairly closely or very closely. But how do they get their political news? And which media do they turn to for the latest developments?
As with our previous news consumption surveys, we asked people what sources they go to for their political news. They cited a range of traditional media, including TV, newspapers and magazines. The most popular source for election news remains CNN, with a plurality of respondents naming it as their top source. However, the percentage of Americans citing CNN as their main source has declined since our last survey in 2021. At the same time, a growing number of Americans are turning to alternative news outlets such as X, a platform that formerly operated under the name ‘Twitter Lite.’ Overall, however, most people cite several of these major sources as their primary or secondary news sources.
Throughout the years, Presidents have employed a variety of means for providing information to the Press. These include regular “news conferences,” off-the-record interviews, deliberate leaks, and so forth. The table below identifies the number of times each President has met with multiple members of the Press in a formal, on-the-record meeting (note that there have been instances where a press conference is not specifically on the record, such as early interactions with Coolidge and Hoover). A “solo” conference is a meeting between the President alone and the Press; a “prime-time” televised event is a separate category that begins with Nixon and includes all prime-time televised press conferences.
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