In 2005, one of our main findings was that the rise in partisanship in news consumption — the “Red and Blue truth,” as Time magazine put it — was exaggerated (see Cable TV Public Attitudes 2005 [1]).

In May 2005, The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press conducted a study to probe the question further. The study concluded that ideological splintering is less severe and more nuanced than many might perceive.3 [2] The report classified the population into nine major groups in terms of their political ideology: three Republican-oriented groups, three Democratic-oriented groups, two predominantly independent groups and one politically uninvolved group (the latter three groups termed collectively as the Middle). The typologies ranged along a continuum, with the overwhelmingly and clearly Republican group at one extreme and the comparable Democratic group at the other.

The public opinion survey in the report delved further into these political typologies and their impact on news consumption, among other issues. It affirmed that television is the dominant news source for all of the typologies4 [3] and, moving beyond the previous year’s simple Red-Blue dichotomy, revealed significant differences in news consumption within parties.

Over all, there remained wide differences in the specific TV news outlets that the typologies relied upon, particularly cable news outlets.

Fox News channel was cited as the major source of news by all three Republican typologies — among whom, the Enterprisers (46%) watched it most often, followed by the Social Conservatives (34%) and then the Pro-Government Conservatives (23%). The numbers showed that Fox News is preferred over not just CNN (which had the fewest Republicans watching) but also the network news channels.

The division was not as clear-cut, though, for the Democratic or independent groups. The Democratic groups chose CNN over Fox News but not over the networks. Liberals appear to use TV less often in general — less than any of the other groups. Among the independents, one group favored CNN and one gave a slight edge to Fox. The politically uninvolved bystanders said they watched CNN and Fox News in the same quantity.5 [4]

There was no clear chasm. While more Republicans watch Fox News, a fair number of them also tune in to the networks and to CNN. Similarly, Democrats don’t overwhelmingly watch CNN. More of them watch the networks. What’s plainer is that Democrats watch Fox News the least.6 [5]

Please visit the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press for the Complete Survey [6].