Bernard Goldberg: ‘Ridiculous’ 50% of Journalists Are Independents, Likely 85% Voted for Obama
“I say the poll is ridiculous,” Bernard Goldberg declared on Monday’s O’Reilly Factor in doubting the accuracy of a survey in which 28 percent of journalists self-identified as Democrats and 50 percent claimed to be independents.
Goldberg was willing to buy that a mere seven percent of the press corps are Republican, “but only 28 percent of journalists say they’re Democrats and 50 percent say they’re independents? Impossible.” He predicted that, in reality, if injected with truth serum, “about 85 percent would admit that they voted for Barack Obama twice.”
Audio: mp3 clip
The political affiliation numbers come from a survey of 1,080 journalists conducted late last year for the School of Journalism at Indiana University. In a May 6 BiasAlert on the poll (“New Survey of 1,000 Journalists: Four Times More Identify as Democrats Than Republicans”), I noted that half insisting they are independent is “not a surprise since you’d expect some liberals in the media to pretend they are something else.”
Echoing that theory, Goldberg, the former CBS News correspondent, suggested those in the media “know the American people think they’re liberal, which they are. They know the American people think they root for Democrats, and they do. So,” when asked by a pollster, they say “we’re independents.” However, Goldberg forwarded, “I’ll bet you if you injected these people with truth serum, about 85 percent would admit that they voted for Barack Obama twice.”
Goldberg, on the May 12 O’Reilly Factor:
I say the poll is ridiculous. I mean, let’s start with that. The seven percent who identify themselves as Republicans, I’ll buy that. But only 28 percent of journalists say they’re Democrats and 50 percent say they’re independents? Impossible.
A few years ago, I predicted that precisely this would happen because they know the American people think they’re liberal, which they are. They know the American people think they root for Democrats, and they do. So they say, when the pollsters come around, they say “no, no, we’re independents. Bias, Democrat? No, come on, this is a conservative delusion.” And I’ll bet you if you injected these people with truth serum, about 85 percent would admit that they voted for Barack Obama twice.
The MRC’s “Media Bias 101,” compiled by the MRC’s Rich Noyes, with a dozen past polls revealing the political views and voting habits of those in the news media.
— Brent Baker is the Steven P.J. Wood Senior Fellow and Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Follow Brent Baker on Twitter.
