Based on Rasmussen poll results reported today, it looks like twenty or so years of very hard work by the Media Research Center and affiliates, including just over three years at NewsBusters, has paid some dividends.
Despite the years of hype over how money is the root of all campaigning evil by the press, the respected polling organization reports voters' belief that there is a bigger problem in political campaigns: media bias.
Here is some of what today's report says:
Voters overwhelmingly believe that politicians will “break the rules to help people who give them a lot of money,” but most say there’s a bigger problem in politics today—media bias.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 55% believe media bias is more of a problem than big campaign contributions. Thirty-six percent (36%) disagree and think that campaign cash is a bigger problem.
People believe media bias is a bigger problem even though 63% believe most politicians will break the rules to help campaign contributors. Just 14% believe most politicians would refrain from breaking the rules for a donor. Forty-four percent (44%) say that lobbyists and campaign contributors have too much influence on John McCain’s positions. Forty percent (40%) say the same about Barack Obama.
Just 22% believe it would be a good idea to ban all campaign commercials so that voters could receive information on the campaign only from the news media and the internet. Sixty-six percent (66%) disagree and think that, despite the annoyance factor, it’s better to put up with an election-year barrage of advertising rather than rely on the news media.
Especially crucial is the view of independents: "Among those not affiliated with either major party, 47% say media bias is the problem while 43% hold the opposite view."
This means that at least half, and probably more, of swing voters are on the alert for biased reporting. It's probably more than that, because it's possible to believe that bias is a significant problem while believing that money is a bigger one. Dovetail that with an earlier Rasmussen poll showing that voters believe overwhelmingly that "most reporters are trying to help Barack Obama win the election this year" (49%, vs. only 14% who believe they're helping McCain) and it seems very likely that Barack Obama won't be getting the degree of default acceptance from voters that Bill Clinton largely received in 1992.
That would be progress.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
—Tom Blumer is president of a training and development company in Mason, Ohio, and is a contributing editor to NewsBusters
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Here's one poll the MSM
August 11, 2008 - 11:51 ET by d1carterHere's one poll the MSM won't be using....
The whole 'too much money
August 11, 2008 - 12:05 ET by 10ksnookerThe whole 'too much money in politics' goes up in a puff of smoke with full disclosure -- Say within 48 hours of getting the contribution, on the Internet of course. Problem solved.
The bias issue, the people are solving that by turning off ...
Hopefully, the MSM's
August 11, 2008 - 12:15 ET by iconoclastHopefully, the MSM's reluctance in disclosing the Edwards affair is waking people up. Sometimes there is no amount of spin that can keep the truth hidden (In this case left wing bias). And maybe, just maybe this prime example of MSM left leaning bias is the dog that will bark.
"we should immediately give every working family in America a
$1,000 energy rebate, and we should pay for it with part of the record
profits that the oil companies are making" Barak Obama, Communist
spreading the word
August 11, 2008 - 12:22 ET by StayOnPointNB needs an online store that sells bumbper stickers & such to help spread the word. It's amazing how irrelevant the Old Media were in covering the John Edwards sex scandal.
Oppose Obamunism-Elect a Conservative Congress in '08
framing the debate
August 11, 2008 - 12:29 ET by StayOnPointWhen posting about the anti-free speech MSM or left wing Dems we need to use the same terminlogy they have so effectively used on us for so many years. That is why I called it the John Edwards sex scandal instead of simply 'story'. Feel free to add to the template.
Oppose Obamunism-Elect a Conservative Congress in '08
How to choose, Tom?
August 11, 2008 - 12:30 ET by Gary HallHow to choose, Tom?
Wow! The most critical, the driving force in the selection of our next president - the MSM!
Let's see. Come 6:30 tonight, with this breaking news all over the top of the news on the networks; which one to choose to watch?
(;~/ gary
Gary, part of the ....
August 11, 2008 - 14:51 ET by Tom Blumer.... Friday evening news strategy by Edwards is that it will be "old news" by Monday, and thus ignored, esp if the media didn't like having to deal with the story in the first place.
If you're referring to whether or not this Rasmussen poll makes network news, uh, forget it .... unless they turn it around and make it a story about how stupid we are for not swallowing every word they say and trusting their news judgment entirely. I figure those stories won't come until a) it's obvious that Obama is way down in the polls, or b) after Obama loses, if it's sort of close.
Tom.. you knew it was tongue..
August 11, 2008 - 15:10 ET by Gary HallTom.. you knew it was tongue 'n cheek. right? and specifically, it was about how the news would cover the poll results showing how patheticly biased they are. (;-) gary
Hold on, Tom.
August 11, 2008 - 17:14 ET by needleIt has already been explained by quite few people from the MSM – almost in the form of a threat – that if Obama looses, it will just be proof that this is a racist nation.
Impunitas semper ad deteriora invitat.
predicted "solution"
August 11, 2008 - 12:34 ET by sarcasmoRather than getting rid of their previous McCain-Feingold stupidity, they'll pass yet-another law, which also won't work.
JMR
The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.
Can't wait to hear about this tonight on the eavning news
August 11, 2008 - 12:57 ET by c5thenIt'll be just like crickets chirping, I'm sure.
No way that any MSM entity touched this story. This one will be burried deeper than the Edwards scandle.
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.
In a way, media bias is a
August 11, 2008 - 13:18 ET by Chris NormanIn a way, media bias is a money issue - as it applies to political campaigns. It's a political donation of non-stop positive coverage to the Democratic Party. The news has become one long Democrat infomercial. In that way, it's priceless.
McNotObama '08
Amen
August 11, 2008 - 17:16 ET by needleChris, this sums up the matter quite well.
Impunitas semper ad deteriora invitat.
The results of this poll
August 11, 2008 - 13:21 ET by IgnatzJFahrquarThe results of this poll rank right up there with :
"Breathing will keep you alive."
"An apple is healthier than that large bag of chips."
"Bill Clinton and George Clinton are not related."
"All generalizations are false, including this one.” Mark Twain
My Wife
August 11, 2008 - 15:21 ET by ElyasI was talking to her on Friday and she told me that my mother-in-law just heard some breaking news. John Edwards had an affair!
I started laughing. I told her, "I knew about it a long time ago".
When I started telling her about it she responded, "Why didn't the news break the story earlier?"
This story will begin the unraveling of just how bias the MSM has become.
Thomas Jefferson once said, 'We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.' And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.
- Ronald Reagan
...and of course we all
August 11, 2008 - 15:31 ET by bigtimer...and of course we all know the msm isn't going to slow up one little bit with their obvious Obamamania with this poll....
I say keep it up msm....you are going to have to look in the mirror for being a major part of the real blame when your new messiah loses...
Of course the won't see it for what it is...he is a total leftist, arrogant to boot...but will blame us dumb Americans out here for being so racist...which of course has zilch to do with it by the majority of us...
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
I'd say this is a two-edged
August 11, 2008 - 15:40 ET by marvlI'd say this is a two-edged problem: in addition to the media's unbelievable bias is the additional problem of the media's unbelievable stupidity. My suspicion is that half these morons got their college degrees by cutting out coupons on the back of cereal boxes and sending them in with a self addressed stamped envelope.
Those responsible
August 11, 2008 - 15:42 ET by WR JonasIt is worth mentioning and noting that Mr. Bozell and Newsbusters have been at the forefront in the mission to educate the public about media bias. I have been using the website as my primary source for several years now and I cannot recall a single issue that they did not report or lead the way on for the past 5 years. There should be no doubt that these poll results indicate an effective and well received message.
So a well earned thanks from me and scores of others I'm sure who will join me in congratulating MRC on doing a terrific job.
The real problem with
August 11, 2008 - 15:48 ET by deerjerkydaveThe real problem with campaign money is BIG GOVERNMENT. If government didn't have the amount of power it did over every aspect of our lives, the private sector would not care so much about who was in political power.
Sixty-six percent (66%)
August 12, 2008 - 08:18 ET by pbanks7Sixty-six percent (66%) disagree and think that, despite the annoyance factor, it’s better to put up with an election-year barrage of advertising rather than rely on the news media.
This is the only way MSM-listening boob tube listeners would ever hear anything good about McCain or bad about Obamessiah.
MSM - shaping all the perceptions you need to believe, then confirming it with a poll.