Just 30% of Americans say they read a print version of their local newspaper every day or nearly every day, but under the age of 40, only half as many (15%) say the same.

Another 20% of all adults say they read the print paper several times a week, but 30% say they rarely or never read it. Twenty percent (20%) also say they read the print paper once a week or less.

The findings in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey are cold comfort for the newspaper industry which in most major cities is struggling to stay in business. Not only are younger readers avoiding the daily print product, but they are not shifting their allegiance to the newspapers’ websites in large numbers which is what newspaper future business plans have been counting on.

Only eight percent (8%) of adults say they read the online version of their local newspaper every day or nearly every day, with another 10% saying they do so several times a week. Sixty-two percent (62%), however, say they rarely or never read the online local newspaper, while 19% read it once a week or less.

Younger readers are slightly more likely to read the local paper online, but not in numbers to reassure newspaper executives. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of those ages 18-29 say they rarely or never read the local newspaper online. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of those 30 to 39 say the same. Non-online readers rise with age from there.

Interestingly, 31% of those who say they go online every day or nearly every day also routinely read the daily print newspaper, so it’s not a clear-cut case of Internet usage taking time away from the more traditional print form of the news.

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The good news for the industry is that 58% of adults say it is very important for a community to have a daily print newspaper, with another 29% saying it is somewhat important. Only two percent (2%) believe it is not at all important.

But 45% also say it is at least somewhat likely that their local daily newspaper will go out of business in the next few years. Nineteen percent say it is very likely to happen, but five percent (5%) believe it is not at all likely.

A majority of Americans (65%) are quite clear, though, that they do not think the federal government should bail out the newspaper industry the same way it is bailing out the financial sector and the automobile industry. Seventeen percent (17%) favor a newspaper bailout, and 18% are not sure which is best.

Democrats are slightly more sympathetic to a newspaper bailout than are Republicans and adults not affiliated with either of the major political parties.

Sixty-three percent (63%) of Democrats also believe it is very important for a community to have a daily print newspaper, a view shared by 59% of unaffiliateds and 51% of Republicans.

In terms of age groups, those under 30 and those 65 and older agree most strongly on the need for a daily print paper. Those two age groups also are the ones that think it is most likely that the local newspaper will go out of business in the next few years.

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of adults say they have followed news stories about the problems in the newspaper industry at least somewhat closely, with 31% following very closely. Six percent (6%) are not following the news at all.

Americans are clearly skeptical about the media. Other surveys in recent months have found that the majority believe the media has portrayed both the state of the economy and global warming as worse than they really are. Most voters also said the media tried to help Barack Obama win the election.

Voters are evenly divided on whether the media’s gloomy coverage of the economy is a reflection of tough times in their own industry.

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