# Democrats who watch Fox News
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [February 3, 2022, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832 "2022-02-03T02:10:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/1 "2022-02-03T02:10:45Z")
I know that a lot of people here have nothing but disdain and/or hatred for Fox. I was surprised and interested to learn that a lot of your liberal compatriots don’t completely share your views.
> **[Opinion | Democrats With a Dirty Secret — They Watch Fox](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/02/02/democrats-fox-news-entertainment-conservative-liberal-00004843)**
>
> New data shows the conservative outlet has plenty of left-leaning viewers. Turns out everyone likes to be entertained.
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/2 "2022-02-03T02:17:40Z")
> [@Bootb](#):
>
> I know that a lot of people here have nothing but disdain and/or hatred for Fox. I was surprised and interested to learn that a lot of your liberal compatriots don’t completely share your views.
Monitoring enemy transmissions?
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### Author:  [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/3 "2022-02-03T04:17:59Z")
I lean left (fiscal conservative, social liberal, which in the Trump era apparently means socialist), and used to actually get news feeds from Fox News. Specifically, the actual ‘news’ stuff, that while it had a heavy lean, was often factually correct.
But that’s the segment that has been gutted by Fox for their Newstainment segments that they keep trying to say are news . . . . riiiiiight up until they get sued, and then it’s “obvious no one would take it seriously.”
And no, I’m not entertained by people screaming lies, racist crap, or misinformation that gets people killed, so nope, it got curated out of my feeds.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/4 "2022-02-03T06:42:48Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#):
>
> Monitoring enemy transmissions?
Know thy enemy.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/5 "2022-02-03T08:16:13Z")
There is a difference between “laughing _with_ you” and “laughing _at_ you”…unless of course you are so desperate for attention that you don’t really care how you get it.
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/6 "2022-02-03T08:35:03Z")
> [@Bootb](#):
>
> I was surprised and interested to learn that a lot of your liberal compatriots don’t completely share your views.
For as nakedly contemptuous as the modern right is of their political opposition (“Dummycrats,” and all that), it’s very weird to me to see the insecurity inherent in desperately seeking the validation of their attention.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/7 "2022-02-03T12:54:49Z")
I’ve watched it in airports/bars/waiting rooms. I laugh.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/8 "2022-02-03T13:21:20Z")
For a long time I kept them in my RSS feed because it can be genuinely useful to see how they’re ‘reporting’ on news. Eventually I couldn’t stomach it anymore, especially when half of their articles just became reporting about the rantings of their own pundits.
The newstainment stuff would be funny if there weren’t so many people who take it as deadly serious journalism, so it just makes me dismayed and then sad.
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### Author:  [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/9 "2022-02-03T13:36:26Z")
I watch JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures, Marvel movies and horror films too. So?
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### Author:  [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/10 "2022-02-03T14:25:38Z")
Does this bring you some kind of hope? Is Fox winning the soul of the country?
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/11 "2022-02-03T14:31:34Z")
I wonder if the discussion has gone the way the OP hoped.
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### Author:  [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/12 "2022-02-03T14:33:35Z")
> [@Bootb](#):
>
> I was surprised and interested to learn that a lot of your liberal compatriots don’t completely share your views.
A significant chunk of the ‘old’ Republican party has atrophied during the Trump years - they may now be Democrats, but still watch Fox News. I’m guessing that is where most of the numbers come from.
[https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/536113-tens-of-thousands-of-voters-drop-republican-affiliation-after-capitol](https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/536113-tens-of-thousands-of-voters-drop-republican-affiliation-after-capitol)
~Max
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### Author:  [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/13 "2022-02-03T14:50:19Z")
I should also note that the numbers cited in the Politico article come from Nielson, [as reported in _The Wrap_](https://www.thewrap.com/tucker-carlson-liberal-viewership-fox-news/), [_Forbes_](https://www.forbes.com/sites/andymeek/2022/02/01/fox-news-channel-has-now-spent-20-years-in-the-1-spot-on-the-cable-news-rankings/?sh=e9878e872f2f), etc. I don’t believe the numbers reflect the American population at large, only the TV-watching audience. A subset of America, and possibly a smaller subset of liberals than conservatives.
And this revelation that Democrats watch Fox News network isn’t news.
> **[Fox News is watched by more Democrats than CNN](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10342591/Fox-News-watched-Democrats-CNN.html)**
>
> Fox hauled 29 percent of the liberal audience compared to 24 percent for CNN, according to averages from April to August. MSNBC captured the majority of liberals with a 46 percent share.
> **[More Democrats watch Fox News during prime time than CNN: data](https://thehill.com/homenews/media/580171-more-democrats-watch-fox-news-during-primetime-than-cnndata/)**
>
> More Democrats are watching Fox News during prime time than CNN, according to data from Per Nielsen MRI Fusion.The data shows Fox News is watched by 29 percent of liberal prime-time viewers co…
> **[More Democrats Than You Probably Realize Are Watching Fox News Regularly](https://www.forbes.com/sites/andymeek/2021/03/05/more-democrats-than-you-probably-realize-are-watching-fox-news-regularly/)**
>
> The tribalism in media and politics tends to obscure this relatively minor but important point about Fox News and, in particular, its audience.
I think it is more likely that less Democrats are watching TV news at all - and the ones still watching are more likely to be right-leaning Democrats.
> **[Partisanship and Cable News Audiences](https://www.pewresearch.org/2009/10/30/partisanship-and-cable-news-audiences/)**
>
> In recent years, Republican viewers have migrated increasingly to Fox News but Democrats comprise a larger share of the Fox News audience than Republicans do of CNN's audience.
~Max
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/14 "2022-02-03T15:34:00Z")
> [@Cervaise](#):
>
> I wonder if the discussion has gone the way the OP hoped.
Certainly.
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### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/15 "2022-02-03T18:31:07Z")
I don’t watch Fox generally; but I do make a point of sometimes reading people I disagree with.
Why would I only want to hear from people who I agree with?
(Well, I guess there are a lot of people who do only want to hear from people they agree with. I’m just not one of them.)
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### Author:  [@SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpacemanSpiff_II)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/16 "2022-02-03T18:52:09Z")
Part of the story may be that some liberals have spouses or other family members who are more conservative.
In addition, some people are not as focused on their political ideology as other people. So if they are asked for their political allegience they would say Democratic, and they would vote along the same lines, but are not passionate enough about if for it to dictate their choice of news source.
People who read and post in the Politics & Election forum of this MB would typically be more passionate about politics, so this is something that they might not relate to, but it’s actually pretty widespread.
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### Author:  [@Ziberian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ziberian)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/17 "2022-02-03T20:31:18Z")
I don’t know of any truly objective news sources, so I want more than one perspective on issues. It’s informative to see how the different news sites frame any given topic, what they include, and what they omit. I want as much information as I can get and that requires a variety of news sources.
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### Author:  [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/18 "2022-02-03T20:39:01Z")
I notice that Fox television news here in the bay area of California (KTVU) tones down their right-wingedness, as they probably wouldn’t get as many viewers if they didn’t.
But I’ll never forget that even as the insurrectionists were climbing the Capitol steps and erecting lynching platforms, KTVU was airing this story: “Newsom wants to extend benefits to illegal immigrants!”
So I try never to tune in their channel, though I like their weatherman.
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### Author:  [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/19 "2022-02-03T20:42:07Z")
There’s a rather material distinction to be drawn between Fox News and Fox affiliates:
[https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-affiliates-we-are-not-fox-news-channel](https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-affiliates-we-are-not-fox-news-channel)
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### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2022, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-who-watch-fox-news/958832/20 "2022-02-03T20:42:45Z")
There’s a difference between reading an alternative viewpoint (that is still legit, just opposite-biased) and reading total garbage.
Even as recently as ten years ago, Fox News still had some legit stuff to offer. Not anymore.
It’s one thing to taste a cuisine you don’t like, it’s another thing to eat crap.
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