Most Americans prefer cable news to social media and websites when learning about the election, a survey published Thursday indicates.
Ninety-one percent of U.S. adults say they got new information about the election in the past week, and 24 percent of those say cable TV news was the "most helpful" source. Social media came in second, with 14 percent calling it the most helpful, putting it on par with local TV (also 14 percent), while 13 percent favored news websites and apps.
The survey also found that cable TV is the most prominent source for people who are "very likely to participate" in a primary or caucus.
That said, the findings, which were gathered by the Pew Research Center, change dramatically depending on which age group you're looking at.
Young adults -- those between 18 and 29 years old -- overwhelmingly say social media is the most helpful source. The oldest respondents -- those 65 and up -- rely most on cable news, while only 1 percent say social media is their preferred source.
Pew's survey was conducted between Jan. 18 and 27 -- just before the Iowa caucus, in other words.
Even though cable news is ranked as the most helpful overall, it appears that most people are getting their information from a variety of sources. Forty-five percent told Pew they learned about the election from at least five types of sources in the past week, while 35 percent learned from three or four types. Only nine percent said they got election information from just one type.
That's probably good news. Studies have shown that Facebook, at least, can create an "echo chamber" effect that leads people to reinforce their own views. In theory, someone who relied entirely on social media would be as much of a drone as someone who watched only one cable outlet.
And if you happen to care about which media source appears to be most archaic, Pew found that national print newspapers came in last place overall, even behind radio and late night comedy shows.
"It does speak to the precipitous decline of print as a mode of news – even as print-only consumers remain a key part of newspapers’ audiences," Pew authors Jeffrey Gottfried, Michael Barthel, Elisa Shearer and Amy Mitchell wrote.