American politics is increasingly defined by cultural clashes rather than economic concerns, and the shift isn’t accidental. A new study reveals that the rise of competitive television – specifically, 24-hour cable news – incentivized broadcasters to prioritize emotionally charged social issues over substantive economic debate, fundamentally altering voter priorities. This trend has only accelerated with the proliferation of digital media, where attention is a zero-sum game.
The Historical Shift: From Economics to Culture Wars
For decades, economic class was the dominant predictor of voting behavior. From 1948 to 2012, poorer white voters consistently leaned left, while wealthier ones favored the right. This pattern began to unravel in 2016, culminating in a stark reversal by 2024: the poorer the white voter, the more likely they were to support Donald Trump. This isn’t simply a matter of personality; it’s a structural realignment driven by the media landscape.
Beginning in the late 1960s, debates over immigration, crime, abortion, and gender became increasingly prominent. Voters began sorting themselves less by economic attitudes and more by cultural ones. This created a political vacuum that Trump exploited, rebranding the GOP as a champion of cultural grievances while Democrats struggled to maintain working-class support.
How Cable News Changed the Game
The key turning point wasn’t organic; it was engineered by market forces. Before the advent of cable, the “Big Three” networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC) enjoyed near-monopoly dominance. News divisions were treated as prestige projects, prioritizing in-depth economic coverage over sensationalist stories. But when cable TV exploded, competition intensified. Networks realized that cultural controversies retained viewers far better than dry economic briefings.
MIT and Harvard researchers Shakked Noy and Akaash Rao analyzed decades of TV transcripts and viewership data. Their findings are blunt: cable news networks systematically prioritized culture war issues because they were more profitable. When a network switched from cultural to economic segments, viewership dropped by 2.2% – a significant penalty in the attention economy.
The Digital Acceleration
The problem isn’t limited to cable. The rise of digital media has only amplified the trend. Platforms like TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube operate on the same principle: outrage drives engagement. Economic policy can be debated; identity, gender, and immigration are immediate, visceral triggers. In a world where entertainment is just a click away, political media has no choice but to lean into the most captivating (and divisive) issues.
Why This Matters: Democracy Under Pressure
The consequences are stark. Voters prioritize cultural battles over economic realities, even when they acknowledge material concerns are paramount. This allows politicians to exploit grievances and win elections without addressing systemic problems. The study even shows that politicians in areas with high cable news exposure are more likely to focus on culture war issues in their campaign ads.
The authors point out that economic policy still matters, and candidates who focus on bread-and-butter issues perform better overall. But the cultural realignment has created a situation where voters are more likely to choose a party based on identity than on economic self-interest.
The Bottom Line
The erosion of economic debate in American politics is not the result of random chance. It’s a direct consequence of how media companies adapted to a hyper-competitive attention economy. The incentives are clear: cultural controversies sell, and in a world drowning in entertainment options, political media has no choice but to play the game. This poses a fundamental threat to democracy, as it prioritizes manufactured outrage over substantive policy solutions.
