There is an assumption, probably particularly among those who cover the news and those who read it, that Donald Trump’s legal travails are common knowledge. We talk about things like the potential effects of a Trump conviction on the 2024 presidential election with the assumption that this would be an event that rose to the nation’s consciousness, triggering a response from both his supporters and detractors.
But this is a sort of vanity: Just because it is interesting to us certainly doesn’t mean it is interesting to others. Polling released by CNN on Thursday shows that only a quarter of voters seek out news about the campaign; a third pay little to no attention at all.
As it turns out, even major developments often fly under the average American’s radar. New polling conducted by YouGov shows that only a bit over half of the country on average is aware of the various legal challenges Trump faces. And among those Republicans on whose political support he depends? Consistently, only a minority say they are aware of his lawsuits and charges.
43% of Democrats believed he’d been charged with crimes they made up for the poll.
The point of the article is really about the fact that most people are just generally uninformed, especially Republicans about these criminal prosecutions.
The vast majority of Americans completely tune out news and politics, interject at get-togethers with some regurgitated shallow talking-points they overheard coworkers or news headlines say, then suddenly pay half attention like a month before the election.