Nexxen Identifies 'News-Avoiding Voters' as Key 2026 Midterm Audience
by on 14th Jul 2026 in News
Nexxen, the advertising technology platform powered by unique data and media, today (14th July, 2026) launched a new predictions report on the 2026 US midterm elections. Leveraging Nexxen’s proprietary data and resources to track past, present, and future voter behaviour, the report offers political advertisers directional insights into how, and where, "news-avoiding voters" are engaging, helping guide campaign strategy in an increasingly fragmented and non-linear media landscape.
Nearly 40% of Americans actively avoid news due to overwhelm, fatigue, and distrust, yet these voters remain engaged in the political process. In fact, according to Nexxen's research, 86% say they plan to vote in the 2026 midterms, and 80% reported voting in the 2024 presidential election. Rather than opting out of politics entirely, these voters are opting out of how traditional news is delivered – turning instead to entertainment channels, social platforms, and audio experiences, where political content is encountered more organically. This creates both a challenge and an opportunity for campaigns seeking to reach persuadable audiences, regardless of political affiliation.
Specifically, Nexxen’s report highlights several key dynamics for which political advertisers should be preparing, including:
- 91% of news-avoiding voters passively encounter political content in non-traditional news environments such as social media, streaming and creator content
- 41% of these voters say creators influence their opinions, highlighting the growing role of personality-driven content over institutional messaging
- More than 35% of these voters use search engines or AI tools to help shape their views, signaling the emergence of new, intent-driven moments
- Nearly 1 in 3 news-avoiding voters decide how they will vote in the final weeks of the campaign or later, extending the window for influence
These findings underscore that campaigns relying solely on news environments risk sacrificing not just reach, but impact. Instead, effective strategies require always-on, cross-channel engagement – particularly across streaming, search, social, and audio, where news-avoiding voters spend much of their time.
Through Nexxen’s unified platform – spanning a supply-side platform ("SSP") and demand-side platform ("DSP"), with the Nexxen Data Platform at its core – political advertisers can activate these insights to reach voters across the full campaign journey. This includes the ability to connect with audiences across converged TV, digital, and emerging environments, ensuring messaging remains visible and relevant as many voters form opinions closer to election day.
The report combines data from Nexxen Discovery, the company’s proprietary planning and insights tool that tracks audience behaviour across screens, with analysis of historical media consumption trends and a survey of 1,500 US adults who intend to vote in the 2026 midterm elections.
Nexxen’s full 2026 US Midterm Elections report is available now.
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