Northwest Public Broadcasting recently asked listeners and readers what they value the most going into the 2026 mid-term election. NWPB's Avery Cooper sat down with Multimedia News Director Tracci Dial to discuss the results.
Avery Cooper: So Tracci, NWPB had sent out a survey to listeners and readers asking them what they value in the midterm election. What were some of the themes in those responses? What seems to matter the most?
Tracci Dial: Yeah, Avery, we got about 100 responses from folks all over the Northwest, mostly in Washington, some in North Idaho. And you know what? Economy was mentioned 58 times. So that's a big one for the midterm elections and for people everywhere right now. Also, this one sort of surprised me. 26 times people brought up climate. Also, democracy, health care and accountability. Those were the big ones.
Cooper: Yeah, that is pretty wild. Were there any specifics about the economy that jumped out in terms of a theme?
Dial: Sure. Of course, inflation, that was a big one. Grocery prices, also something that's been talked about a lot. Fuel costs, that was another one. And housing affordability, those were the big themes for economy.
Cooper: Well, let's go into the elections. What were some of the themes in that regard?
Dial: You know, people are pretty concerned about voting rights, wanting to ensure that democracy is, you know, being upheld. Of course, folks just really want to know the process of how some of these things are working and election integrity. You know, there's so many conversations about the mail-in ballots and people really just want more information on that, it seems like, from the survey results.
Cooper: Was there anything that listeners felt like maybe is being covered too much by the news going into this midterm cycle?
Dial: Oh, yeah. That was one of the questions, "What's over covered oftentimes in the media?" So, folks said that horse race polling, you know, sometimes those are tough to be accurate. You never know. who you're going to get, and they change so quickly. So none of that, they say, they think that's covered too much. Political personalities are survey takers. They said they don't want that, too much coverage of that. And daily political controversy, that was another one, as well as celebrity-style political coverage.
Cooper: NWPB had sent out this survey to connect with the audience, right, to try and figure out what matters to them. So how will they see the results of this data impact coverage in this election and in the future?
Dial: Well, already seeing it, you know, we're doing this survey to kind of talk about the themes that folks are thinking about. Also, you know, we've covered some statewide initiatives, some local measures in a lot of undercovered areas like the Tacoma area. You know, it's a it's a big populous area, but oftentimes gets overshadowed with Big King County and Seattle nearby. So, some of those are already happening because folks do say that they want more local coverage as well as real community impact. So, you can also look out for a really nice couple of pieces from rural Oregon coming soon. That's an area we don't get to very often with real salt of the earth types of people that we don't hear from very often. And, you know, people are saying in this survey that they prefer explanatory journalism. So explainers are coming. They want policy consequences, accountability. And like I said, that community impact rather than campaign spectacles that we can often see in other places.
Cooper: There's a lot of requests for more local information, local news about local races and issues, and in my experience, it's harder to cover smaller races because there's less information out there. Is there anything NWPB can do to increase access to these issues and help people make informed decisions at the ballot box?
Dial: Local. That is a tough one for NWPB. You know, we have a huge coverage area, most of Washington, parts of Idaho, parts of Oregon, even up into British Columbia. To talk local is difficult, right? If we covered every local race. I mean, we just don't have the bodies to do that, not enough capacity or the time to share all of that. So local is a big word. What I suggest is reaching out to us. Send us an email, [email protected], or give us a call and let us know what specific local thing you'd like to hear about and read about. You know, we'll respond as best we can, work to deliver, and yeah, it's just tough to be equitable when the coverage area is so large. So what does local mean to you? That's a question I have back to our survey respondents.
Cooper: Yeah. What ideas do you have for NWPB to implement for the next election cycle? 2028, it's going to be a big one.
Dial: You know, we're always working to improve. We'll keep upholding our mission to be informative, receptive, responsive, and trustworthy in our election coverage. And all coverage, really. And we do have this initiative, Vote 2026. We change the year each year that we do these for the elections. So Vote 2026 is up on our YouTube right now. We host these campaign forums, right? We had a couple with two big congressional races in Washington. Those are up on YouTube right now. Also partnering with the League of Women Voters in Benton and Franklin counties. So they host these, in partnership with us. So local races, sheriff's races, district judge races, and those are great. We hope to grow that. It's really a great thing to help share with our audiences and a great place to learn more about these candidates.
Cooper: Tracci Dial, she is the news director for Northwest Public Broadcasting. Thank you so much, Tracci.
Dial: Thank you, Avery.
