A new UtahPolicy.com survey asked Utahns how they follow news from Utah's Capitol Hill. 59% said they use television, 47% said websites, 45% said newspapers and 44% said radio. Surprisingly, only 24% of Utahns use Facebook to follow legislative news and just 7% said Twitter.
Not surprisingly, younger Utahns prefer online news sources, but not necessarily social media:
- 67% of Utahns between the age of 18 and 24 say they use websites to get news about the legislature. 41% said Facebook, but just 33% use newspapers. Only 7% in that age group use Twitter.
- 70% between the age of 25 and 34 rely on websites for news from the Hill. 48% said Facebook and 45% use newspapers. 19% in that age group use Twitter.
- In the 35-44 age group, 57% said they get legislative news from websites, 48% said television, 46% said radio and 43% said newspapers. Just 32% use Facebook and 8% use Twitter.
- 59% of those between 45 and 54 say television, 48% said radio, 45% said websites, 43% said newspapers. Only 5% use Twitter and 15% said Facebook.
- Older Utahns rely mostly on television or newspapers for legislative coverage.
The social media numbers are extremely surprising given the popularity of Twitter on the Hill among reporters and legislators. Seemingly they're putting their messages out there, but they're mostly not being heard.
The survey was conducted by Dan Jones and Associates from February 2-9, 2015 among 606 registered voters. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.98%.