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America’s Newspapers Foundation Executive Brief · 2026 Election
Trusted Environment. Engaged Voters.Why local newspapers are the right environment for political advertising in 2026 — built on voter trust, voter turnout, and how voters say they receive political ads across channels. |
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Local newspapers offer something no other local paid channel can: a trusted environment around voters who actually vote.
The case for political advertising in local newspapers rests on findings that don’t appear together anywhere else in local media. Local newspapers are the most trusted local news source surveyed. Their readers turn out to vote at substantially higher rates than non-readers — especially in the local races where most local campaigns are decided. Voters don’t resent political advertising inside the local paper the way they resent it in social media or direct mail. And when voters decide who to vote for locally, the local newspaper is the channel they consult first.
The data on this page is drawn from the America’s Newspapers Trust in Media Study, a 3,019-respondent national survey conducted by Coda Ventures. Every figure below comes from that study.
Local newspapers lead other news sources on trust — and come in lowest on blame for misinformation.
Voters trust local newspapers. They turn to them for facts. They don’t blame them for spreading misinformation. Among the major news sources measured, no other channel combines those two qualities at this scale — and that combination creates the environment around political advertising that voters encounter most favorably.
Newspaper readers are the voters who show up — and the gap widens in local races.
Local newspaper readers — print and digital — turn out to vote at substantially higher rates than non-readers across every election type measured. The gap is biggest in local elections, where margins are tightest and where most local campaigns are decided.
The audience does some of the qualifying work that paid-media targeting tries to do — with higher accuracy and lower waste. Local newspaper readers self-select into a high-turnout segment.
Voters don’t resent political advertising in local newspapers the way they resent it in other channels.
Voters rate political ads in local newspapers as less biased and less irritating than political ads in any other major channel measured. Across both attributes, the gap is large — and it cuts in the same direction.
When voters decide who to vote for locally, they turn to the local newspaper.
Asked where they go to inform local voting decisions, voters name their local newspaper first — well ahead of direct mail and social media. The local newspaper is the channel voters consult at the moment they’re making up their minds about local races.
Four findings, one position.
Four results from the Trust in Media Study, taken together, explain why local newspapers occupy a position no other local paid channel can match for political advertising in 2026.
Voters place local newspapers at the top of the trust hierarchy and at the bottom of the misinformation-blame hierarchy. Political advertising in that environment is surrounded by trust.
Newspaper readers turn out at substantially higher rates than non-readers in every election type measured — and the gap widens in local races.
Voters rate political ads in local newspapers as less biased and less irritating than political ads in any other major channel measured.
When voters make up their minds about local races, they go to the local newspaper first — well ahead of direct mail and social media.
Five points local newspapers can use to make the case.
Sharp, repeatable points for any conversation about local newspaper political advertising during the 2026 election cycle. Each one tracks back to the Trust in Media Study.
Across every election type measured, local newspaper readers turn out at substantially higher rates than non-readers. In national and state elections, 74% of readers report voting compared with 59% of non-readers — a 15-point gap. In local elections, the gap widens to 21 points.
Among the major news sources surveyed, local newspapers lead on trust (51%) and come in lowest on blame for spreading misinformation (23%). Political advertising in local newspapers is surrounded by that trust.
Only 6% of voters call political ads in local newspapers biased, and only 4% call them irritating. The same voters call social media political ads biased five times as often, and direct mail political ads irritating four and a half times as often.
74% of voters say they will use the local newspaper to guide local voting decisions — well ahead of direct mail (61%) and social media (57%). Political advertising in local newspapers reaches voters at the moment they’re making up their minds.
Newspaper readers self-select into a high-trust, high-turnout segment. Budget spent reaching them reaches voters who actually vote — especially in the local races where most local campaigns are decided. The audience does some of the targeting work that paid media tries to do.
Where the data comes from.
The data on this page is drawn from the America’s Newspapers Trust in Media Study, conducted by Coda Ventures. The national survey collected responses from 3,019 American adults and carries a ±1.8% margin of error at 95% confidence.
The study measured voter trust across news sources, attitudes toward political advertising across channels, voter turnout patterns by media-use segment, and the sources voters use to make local voting decisions. Together, the findings provide the empirical basis for the trust, turnout, ad-reception, and decision-sourcing claims on this page.
For more on the research or how local newspapers are using this data in 2026, contact America’s Newspapers.
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