In 1982, Fred Evans of California State University in Los Angeles asked reporters from the fifty largest U.S. newspapers about their political identification and for whom they voted in 1980. In that election, Republican Ronald Reagan won with 50 percent of the vote, compared with 41 percent for Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter and 8 percent for liberal Republican-turned-independent John Anderson. (Evans' data included in a 2009 paper by Northeastern University professor William G. Mayer, "The Political Attitudes of American Journalists: A Survey of Surveys.")
KEY FINDINGS:
Half of the journalists (50%) described their "overall political inclination" as either "far left, very liberal or somewhat liberal," compared to 21% who identified as "far right, very conservative or somewhat conservative" and 29% who called themselves "moderate."
Among these journalists, self-identified Democrats outnumbered Republicans by a three-to-one margin (61% to 20%).
51 percent of big city reporters cast a ballot for Democratic President Jimmy Carter, 24 percent for liberal independent candidate John Anderson, and 25 percent for the Republican winner, Ronald Reagan.
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