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As Polls Open On Super Tuesday, Here’s The Media America Is Consuming

If politics is downstream of culture, it’s well worth examining the media we’re marinating in as ballots are cast on Super Tuesday.

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If politics is downstream of culture, as Andrew Breitbart sagely observed, it’s well worth examining the media we’re marinating in as ballots are cast on Super Tuesday. The importance of this pursuit was on dramatic displace back in 2018, when more Americans tuned into episodes of the Trump-era “Roseanne” reboot than “Sunday Night Football” games ahead of the midterm elections.

We can learn a lot about the mood of the country from our cultural preferences and media habits. In the battle between Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Michael Bloomberg, for instance, there are obvious culture clashes, regionally, generationally, and more. The race between the eventual Democratic nominee and President Trump will prominently feature key cultural tensions as well.

In that spirit, I compiled a list of the shows and movies we watched most in the days and weeks before polls opened on Tuesday.

Traditional Television

Network shows with the highest average ratings in the demo for the 2019-2020 season, as of Feb. 23

“The Masked Singer”

“The Bachelor”

“This Is Us”

“American Idol”

“9-1-1”

Networks shows with the highest total ratings for the 2019-2020 season, as of Feb. 23

“NCIS”

“The Masked Singer”

“60 Minutes”

“FBI”

“Young Sheldon”

Broadcasts with the highest total relevant social media activity, as measured by Nielson for the week of Feb. 24

“CBS News Democratic Primary Debate”

“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”

“The Late Late Show With James Corden”

“WWE Friday Night SmackDown”

“WWE Monday Night RAW”

Most-watched cable networks, primetime average for the week of Feb. 17

Fox News

MSNBC

HGTV/TLC (tie)

Discovery Channel

Netflix

Most watched shows and movies on Netflix, as of March 2

“The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez”

“Love is Blind”

“The Angry Birds Movie 2”

“I Am Not Okay With This”

“Altered Carbon”

Box Office

Highest-grossing films domestically for the weekend of Feb. 28-March 1

“The Invisible Man’

“Sonic the Hedgehog”

“The Call of the Wild”

“My Hero Academia: Heroes: Rising”

“Bad Boys for Life”

Billboard Hot 100

For the week of Feb. 29

“The Box,” Roddy Ricch

“Life Is Good,” Future featuring Drake

“Circles,” Post Malone

“Dance Monkey,” Tones and I

“Don’t Start Now,” Dua Lipa

Podcasts

iTunes’s most downloaded podcast shows on March 2

“The Daily”

“The Joe Rogan Experience”

“Wrongful Convictions Podcasts”

“Down the Hill: The Delphi Murders”

“Crime Junkie”

Books

Best selling books on Amazon, as of March 2

“The MAGA Doctrine: The Only Ideas That Will Win the Future,” by Charlie Kirk

“Where the Crawdads Sing,” by Delia Owens

“The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz,” by Erik Larson

“Burn After Writing,” by Sharon Jones

“The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+: Winning Strategies to Make Your Money Last a Lifetime,” by Suze Orman