A new survey [1]
from Scott Rasmussen finds that more than half of all voters (51%)
believe "the average reporter is more liberal than they are," and
two-thirds (67%) think the media have "too much power and influence
over government decisions."
Rasmussen's poll was released Thursday. Perhaps proving the point,
on Friday, MSNBC anchor Savannah Guthrie reacted to polls showing the
Democrats losing ground in Massachusetts by exclaiming: "This is bad [2]." According to Rasmussen: "Only
20% of all voters say most reporters try to offer unbiased coverage of
a political campaign. Seventy-two percent (72%) say most reporters try
to help the candidate they want to win."
Here are excerpts from the January 14 report [1]:
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 67% of likely U.S. voters believe the news media have too much power and influence over government decisions, up six points from October [3]. Just eight percent (8%) think the media have too little power and influence, and 19% think their level of power is about right.
Only 20% of all voters say most reporters try to offer unbiased coverage of a political campaign. Seventy-two percent (72%) say most reporters try to help the candidate they want to win....
Fifty-one percent (51%) of voters say the average reporter is more liberal than they are. Eighteen percent (18%) say that reporter is more conservative, and 20% think their views are about the same ideologically as the average reporter's. That view is largely unchanged from October.
Eighty-five percent (85%) continue to have more confidence in their own judgment than that of the average reporter when it comes to the important issues affecting the nation, also unchanged from October. Only six percent (6%) trust the average reporter's judgment more.
Eighty-one percent (81%) of Republicans and a plurality (49%) of unaffiliated voters believe the average reporter is more liberal than they are, a view shared by just 24% of Democrats. But 80% or more of all three groups trust their own judgment over that of the average reporter.
Republicans and unaffiliateds are also far more inclined than Democrats to believe most reporters try to help the candidate they want to win.
You can read the entire report here [1]. For many more related polls, check the "How the Public Views the Media [4]" section of the MRC's Media Bias Basics.
-Rich Noyes is Research Director at the Media Research Center.