The following story was reported by The State Journal-Register on April 14, 2025.
"Matthew Geras, an assistant professor of political science at UIS, said people are getting almost daily attention to what's going on in national politics.
While almost everyone probably has an opinion of President Donald Trump or former President Joe Biden, he said people may not have an easy time making informed opinions about local candidates or issues in part because they're getting less information about them.
"A lot of the decisions made at the school board level and the county board level affect our day to day lives probably more directly than Congress or the state legislature," Geras said. "But national politics seems to get more attention than local issues and some of this relates to the under-investment in local journalism."