article

FILE-A person votes during early voting at a polling place during the first round of early voting at a polling location, October 21, 2024, in Deland, Florida. (Photo by MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images)

People take different approaches to obtaining information when choosing a candidate they might consider voting for in an election.

And while there’s no specific way to stay informed about a candidate or key issue, a new survey finds that some Americans prefer to have their election questions answered by people they know.

In an investigation conducted by the Health and Civic Institutions Project, a 50-state survey (CHIP50), about 29% of Americans said they rely on friends and family for information about the 2024 election.

RELATED: Around 82 million people voted at the start of the 2024 elections – here are some takeaways

Americans with less formal education rely more on family and friends for election informationwhile people with higher education and income are more likely to favor news media.

Twenty-six percent of respondents said they rely on news media for voting information, while younger Americans (ages 18-24) rely more on personal networks and the older population (ages 65 and older) prefer news media.

When it comes to political parties, Democrats and independents (29%) say they favor news media for election information, compared to 34% of Republicans who say they get information from family and friends.

RELATED: Did your candidate lose? Here’s how to deal with post-election stress

Three-quarters of Americans identify sources other than news media as their primary way to learn about the 2024 election, while 17% of respondents say they favor national media and 8% rely on news outlets local authorities for election information.

About 25% of people say they are very or extremely satisfied with local political news, with higher levels of satisfaction among black respondents (35%), Democrats (38%), and residents living in urban areas (33 %).

Local election news was the preferred source for Americans with higher income and formal education, as well as older Americans and people with lower income and education, the survey noted.

How do states get their election information?

The survey finds that people living in some states tend to rely more on national news for election information than in others, particularly in Connecticut (26%), Massachusetts (26%), and Nevada ( 25%), while in Hawaii (14%), Louisiana. (13%) and South Carolina (12%) are the places where residents are most likely to trust local information.

Separately, Washington, DC (48%), New York (42%), North Carolina (33%), Pennsylvania (33%), Michigan (31%), and Illinois (30%) reported their greater satisfaction with local news about politics.

Meanwhile, Montana (50%), Idaho (49%), Wyoming (45%), New Mexico (45%), and New Hampshire (40%) were more dissatisfied with the news media premises for electoral information.