How cable news fueled the culture war and broke U.S. politics

News organizations, and not just Fox News, focus on inflammatory stories, polarizing voters and tilting political agendas to the right

Over the last decade, politicians have spent most of their ad budgets talking about issues we can broadly call “economic” or “affordability” issues: jobs, prices, health care, taxes, and social programs. Most of the bills the government passes are about these programs, and most of the ways in which everyday people interact with their government are also “economic” (we pay taxes and/or receive benefits). There’s a reason “It’s the economy, stupid” is a saying and “It’s the cancel culture, stupid” is not. If you ask voters today what their number one issue is, over 70% will say something related to the economy, jobs, or social spending.

But if politics were mostly economics, you wouldn’t know it by looking at social media and listening to podcasts. More than anything else, Democratic and Republican lawmakers (especially Republicans) wage rhetorical war — on TV news programs, in floor speeches, on social media — over “social” issues like race, guns, LGBT rights, crime, and immigration. Donald Trump’s presidency, too, has focused more on the issues that concern Sean Hannity and Chris Cuomo than Joe the Plumber. The Republicans rushed through a budget-nuking spending bill in July and then promptly moved off economic issues altogether. Only recently did the issue of affordability overtake immigration in coverage of Trump’s second term.

So what explains the mismatch between what voters care about and what issues animate our politics?

A new academic paper suggests the answer isn’t only about politicians and campaigns. Instead, the research suggests our politics has become influenced by the decisions of television news executives and producers, who are obsessed with cultural conflict and don’t reflect the reality of what voters care about. Think about it: The current Secretary of Defense is a former talk show host for Fox News. The Deputy Director of the FBI used to guest-host Sean Hannity’s show. The Venn diagram of people who worked in right-wing media and those who head key agencies of the U.S. government is continually converging. Jeanine Pirro is the U.S. District Attorney for DC!

This shift in issue attention has had profound consequences for who wins elections. If you’re not making an effort to understand how news agendas are shaping our politics, you’re missing one of the biggest stories in U.S. elections of the last 20 years.

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Cable news covers cultural over economic issues