Seen, Read, Heard
In 2018’s nonstop news cycle, here’s what headlines broke through in Morning Consult surveys.
Morning Consult was in the field nearly every week in 2018, asking roughly 100,000 registered voters over the course of the year how much they’d seen, read or heard about more than 130 current events. Not all news resonated the same. Here’s the share of voters that heard “a lot” about 72 of the events we thought were noteworthy, and how the news penetrated along party lines.
Filter your selection by one or more of the items below to view.
%
Democrats
%
All Voters
%
Republicans
January
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59%
53%
50%
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un escalate nuclear threats
01.02.18
Trump, Kim push each other's buttons
32%
25%
23%
Michael Wolff's book covering President Trump's campaign and early presidency is released
01.03.18
Fire and Fury' by Wolff
44%
33%
26%
Oprah Winfrey's speech at the Golden Globes on #MeToo
01.07.18
Oprah's speech on #MeToo
51%
48%
53%
Senate Democrats shut down the government over protections for "Dreamers"
01.20.18
Shutdown over DACA
42%
36%
30%
The first time special counsel Robert Mueller said he wanted to interview Trump for Russia probe
01.24.18
Mueller wants to talk to Trump
58%
64%
70%
NFL players kneeling during the national anthem before the start of football games
01.25.18
#TakeAKnee protests
February
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32%
25%
25%
Pentagon announces plan to hold a parade of military convoys in Washington, D.C., later in the year
02.06.18
D.C. military parade
43%
43%
49%
Stock market fluctuations, including a record 1,597-point fall in the Dow Jones index
02.06.18
Record Dow drop
36%
28%
26%
White House staff secretary Rob Porter resigns after claims of verbal, physical abuse by ex-wives
02.07.18
Porter resigns
82%
76%
77%
Gunman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. kills 17 people
02.14.18
Parkland shooting
This news reached more voters than any other event in Morning Consult surveys, including both Democrats and Republicans: 76% of voters heard “a lot” about the shooting.
49%
43%
41%
U.S. indicts Russian agency that ran a troll farm designed to influence 2016 elections
02.16.18
Mueller charges Russians
March
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36%
32%
33%
Trump announces the U.S. will impose tariffs on steel, aluminum imports
03.01.18
Steel and aluminum tariffs
36%
36%
42%
A French bulldog asphyxiates in overheard compartment on United Airlines flight
03.12.18
Dog dies on United flight
47%
39%
37%
Trump fires Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, nominates CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace him
03.13.18
Tillerson firing
70%
63%
62%
A Parkland-inspired walkout among high school students calling for stricter gun control laws
03.14.18
Gun-control walkout
32%
28%
26%
U.S. sanctions Russians for troll farm designed to influence 2016 election
03.15.18
Russian sanctions
63%
53%
47%
Demonstrators take to the streets across the country to advocate for gun control
03.24.18
March for Our Lives
43%
30%
21%
Stormy Daniels recounts her alleged affair with Trump on '60 Minutes'
03.25.18
Stormy on '60 Minutes'
April
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43%
42%
45%
Trump administration announces tariffs on select Chinese exports
04.03.18
China tariffs
43%
41%
46%
White House announces plans to send National Guard to U.S.-Mexico border to curb illegal immigration
04.07.18
Troops to the border
45%
44%
48%
A recent suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria
04.08.18
Syrian chemical weapons attack
50%
41%
40%
FBI raids office, hotel room of Michael Cohen, longtime Trump attorney
04.09.18
FBI Cohen raid
45%
39%
41%
House Speaker Paul Ryan announces he will retire from Congress
04.11.18
Ryan's retirement
May
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44%
34%
28%
Trump confirms he reimbursed Cohen for $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels
05.03.18
Trump confirms hush-money payment
45%
44%
49%
Trump says U.S. will withdraw from Iran nuclear deal
05.08.18
Iran deal pullout
34%
36%
42%
Pompeo negotiates release of three American prisoners from North Korea
05.09.18
North Korea prisoners freed
43%
46%
52%
Meeting between Trump, Kim scheduled for June 12 in Singapore
05.10.18
Nuclear summit scheduled
8%
8%
9%
Supreme Court overturns federal law outlawing sports betting
05.14.18
SCOTUS rules on sports betting
This news had the lowest penetration compared to every other event on the list.
42%
39%
41%
Trump cancels nuclear summit with Kim, suggests possible rescheduling
05.24.18
Nuclear summit off... maybe
67%
60%
58%
ABC cancels "Roseanne" following Roseanne Barr's tweet about Valerie Jarrett
05.29.18
'Roseanne' canned
June
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46%
47%
51%
Trump and Kim meet in Singapore to negotiate conditions for North Korea's denuclearization
06.12.18
Trump-Kim summit
30%
31%
38%
Justice Department releases report on former FBI director James Comey's conduct during email probe of Hillary Clinton
06.14.18
DOJ report on Comey
61%
54%
53%
Trump administration ends its policy of separating children from parents caught crossing illegally into U.S.
06.20.18
Trump ends family separation
17%
14%
14%
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeats incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.)
06.26.18
Ocasio-Cortez defeats Crowley
July
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33%
26%
22%
Trump administration reverses Obama-era policy guidelines on race as a factor in university admissions process
07.03.18
Affirmative action reversal
32%
24%
18%
Scott Pruitt resigns as head of the Environmental Protection Agency
07.05.18
Pruitt resigns
34%
32%
39%
Trump nominates Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court
07.09.18
Kavanaugh nominated
24%
17%
15%
The arrest of alleged Russian agent Maria Butina
07.16.18
Alleged Russian agent arrested
56%
50%
49%
A meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin
07.16.18
Trump-Putin meeting
32%
25%
20%
Trump administration says it'll dole out $12 billion in federal aid to farmers, ranchers affected by trade war
07.24.18
Big ag bailout
August
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38%
33%
34%
Trump revokes former CIA Director John Brennan's security clearance
08.15.18
Brennan's clearance revoked
56%
45%
40%
Cohen testifies Trump told him to pay women for their silence about alleged pre-presidency affairs
08.21.18
Cohen implicates Trump
54%
45%
42%
Cohen pleads guilty to campaign finance violations, tax evasion and bank fraud
08.21.18
Cohen pleads guilty
52%
43%
42%
Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort found guilty on eight counts of bank, tax fraud
08.21.18
Manafort found guilty
38%
41%
53%
Undocumented immigrant charged with murder of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts
08.21.18
Tibbetts murder
This story was most skewed in terms of penetration among Republicans: 53% of Republicans heard “a lot” about it, compared to 38% of Democrats.
35%
30%
28%
A study estimates death toll from Hurricane Maria far exceeded government tally of 64
08.28.18
Hurricane Maria report
September
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48%
39%
35%
New York Times publishes editorial from anonymous senior Trump administration official
09.05.18
'I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration'
40%
38%
42%
Senate holds confirmation hearing for Kavanaugh
09.05.18
Kavanaugh hearing
37%
30%
25%
The upcoming release of journalist Bob Woodward's book on the Trump administration
09.11.18
'Fear' by Woodward
72%
69%
73%
Category 4 Hurricane Florence hits the East Coast, pummeling the Carolinas
09.12.18
Hurricane Florence
56%
52%
48%
Christine Blasey Ford accuses Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s
09.12.18
Kavanaugh faces #MeToo
23%
21%
20%
Trump administration caps number of refugees than can be resettled in the U.S. in 2019 at 30,000
09.17.18
Record-low cap for refugees
53%
45%
47%
Kavanaugh and Blasey Ford provide emotional testimony over allegations of sexual assault
09.27.18
Kavanaugh and Blasey Ford testify
24%
25%
26%
Trump administration announces new deal to overhaul North American Free Trade Agreement
09.30.18
The new NAFTA
October
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40%
28%
16%
A New York Times report alleges Trump family participated in dubious tax maneuvers in 1990s
10.02.18
Trump tax fraud?
Knowledge of this report was the most uneven among partisans: 40% of Democrats heard “a lot” about it, compared with 16% of Republicans.
69%
68%
67%
The Senate confirms Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court
10.06.18
Kavanaugh confirmed
14%
10%
6%
United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases report on rising global temperatures
10.08.18
UN climate change report
24%
17%
12%
U.S. Treasury announces $779 billion federal budget deficit for 2018, highest figure recorded in six years
10.15.18
$779 billion budget deficit
35%
33%
34%
Sen. Elizabeth Warren releases results of an analysis showing "strong evidence" she had a Native American ancestor
10.15.18
Warren's ancestry results
44%
33%
24%
Trump refers to adult film actress Stormy Daniels as "Horseface" on Twitter
10.16.18
'Horseface' by Trump
45%
39%
35%
Turkish officials allege Saudi agents murdered Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside consulate
10.17.18
Khashoggi killed
45%
47%
52%
Thousands of Central Americans make their way toward toward the U.S.-Mexico border to seek asylum
10.20.18
Migrant caravan
35%
29%
27%
Megyn Kelly faces criticism after defending the use of blackface in Halloween costumes
10.23.18
Megyn Kelly's blackface backlash
60%
54%
51%
Explosive packages sent to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, Joe Biden and others
10.23.18
Pipe bombs
November
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64%
52%
44%
Democrats take the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections
11.06.18
Democrats win the House
Partisans heard about the GOP retaining the Senate at a nearly equal rate, but news of Democrats winning the House wasn’t heard as evenly: 64% of Democrats and 44% of Republicans heard that news—one of the largest partisan gaps on the list.
49%
46%
48%
Republicans retain their Senate majority in the 2018 midterm elections
11.06.18
GOP maintains control of Senate
40%
35%
30%
Jeff Sessions resigns as attorney general at Trump's request
11.07.18
Sessions resigns
38%
27%
20%
White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump used private email for government business
11.19.18
But her emails
30%
21%
16%
Federal government releases its report on climate change
11.23.18
Black Friday climate report
50%
43%
40%
Customs and Border Protections agents use tear gas to repel Central American migrants
11.25.18
Tear gas at the border
47%
36%
30%
Cohen says he lied to Congress about what the president knew in 2016 about a Trump Tower project in Moscow
11.29.18
Cohen pleads guilty, again
77%
74%
77%
Former President George H.W. Bush dies at 94
11.30.18
Bush '41' dies