Public Television for Liberals? The Demographic and Behavioral Characteristics of The PBS Newshour Viewers

Abstract

Non-academic sources suggest that PBS, an American public broadcast service, mostly serves liberals. However, there is little scholarly evidence on the demographic and behavioral characteristics of those who get news about government and politics from PBS. Using the data from the American National Election Study’s 2020 Time Series (N=8,280), this research examines how PBS viewership is related to party identification, ideology, education, sex, race, political knowledge, religion, income and age. It also explores how PBS viewers are different from MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News viewers in their political attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs.