Call it the "Trump effect" or just "news fatigue." However you describe it, if you feel exhausted by the non-stop crisis-mode news coverage (most of itfocused on the President), then you're not alone. A new Pew Research Center survey finds a vast majority of Americans are frustrated with the current state of news coverage. "About seven-in-ten Americans told us they're feeling worn out by the amount of news there is these days," says Jeffrey Gottfried, Pew researcher. "And Republicans are more likely to feel overwhelmed by the news, we see that 77 percent of Republicans say this, compared to 61 percent of Democrats."
Despite being more pronounced for Republicans, the consensus of exhaustion with news coverage cuts across many groups, including men and women, blacks, whites and Hispanics. Among those who disapprove of the news media in general, a whopping majority of 80 percent are exhausted by the news. "Just a general American gut reaction is that they are feeling exhausted, they're feeling overwhelmed and worn out by the amount of news these days," says Gottfried.
Pew does not explore reasons behind the growing news fatigue, but it appears to coincide with Donald Trump's rise to the presidency. Gottfried points out that the results of this survey continue a trend that began during the 2016 election cycle. "At that time, we saw that most Americans were feeling this election news fatigue," he says. "So this trend we see is very much in line with what people were feeling during the election itself."
The survey doesn't give high marks to most of the news media either. Only 17 percent of respondents say that national news organizations are doing "very well" at keeping the public informed on the most important stories of the day.