The Kerry Tide: Newspapers Usually Endorse Repubs for Prez

Published on October 26, 2004 By blogic In Politics

As I think most readers know, Kerry is way ahead on both his number of major newspaper endorsements and total circulation of those papers.

Bush supporters may not take this seriously, arguing that of course the "liberal press" is supporting the Democrats.

Well, it turns out in the great majority of presidential elections, newspapers have supported the Republican candidate. In fact, only in 1996 and 1992 did the Democrat receive more endorsements from newspapers.

The fact that the papers have such a strong preference for Kerry tells you just how far outside the mainstream Bush is, and how negatively his policies have affected America.

Comments (Page 2)

blogic

on Oct 27, 2004

"When was the last time that the New York Times, The Washington Post, or the LA Times endorsed a Republican? Let me know."

Hi Draginol,

Did I even mention those papers? My point is simple: four years ago: most papers for Bush. Four years later: most papers for Kerry. Most years, most papers are for the Republican candidate.

Unless the liberal conspiracy had amazing success over the last four years, that means lots of papers have endorsed Kerry even though they generally prefer Republicans.

I think that speaks volumes -- or should I say issues? -- about Bush's poor record.

Thank you for your comment.

T B

on Oct 27, 2004

First, why does this nonsense even make it on these posts? This is about as important as the fact that Jr. High kids elected Bush and the Nickelodeon viewers elected Kerry.

From the Pew Research Group:

Journalists at national and local news organizations are notably different from the general public in their ideology and attitudes toward political and social issues. Most national and local journalists, as well as a plurality of Americans (41%), describe themselves as political moderates. But news people especially national journalists are more liberal, and far less conservative, than the general public.

About a third of national journalists (34%) and somewhat fewer local journalists (23%) describe themselves as liberals; that compares with 19% of the public in a May survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. Moreover, there is a relatively small number of conservatives at national and local news organizations. Just 7% of national news people and 12% of local journalists describe themselves as conservatives, compared with a third of all Americans.

As of today:

Kerry - 143 (53%)
Bush -125 (47%)

Not too bad far as I can see (particularly in light of the above data).

Well, it turns out in the great majority of presidential elections, newspapers have supported the Republican candidate. In fact, only in 1996 and 1992 did the Democrat receive more endorsements from newspapers

Please subtantiate this claim. As long as I can remember it was the opposite (however, I can't find data to support or refute my intuition)

Grim Xiozan

on Oct 27, 2004

One paper in California endorsed a Libs bid for Senate seat in California instead of the Dem or Rep candidates, so go figure.

PLINKO!!

stevendedalus

on Oct 28, 2004

"No Monday-morning quarterback has ever won a game."

Aw, Gee, you're taking all the fun out of it.

Angloesque

on Oct 28, 2004

"No Monday-morning quarterback has ever won a game."

...Except for some of those who play in Monday Night Football. Oops, sorry.

/tangent

I think the media is endorsing Kerry because, like Bahu said in #11, they're embarrassed that they fell so hard for Bush's Iraq and are trying to make up for it now. It's like a driver overcorrecting and still veering off the road.

Cheers.

-A.

T B

on Oct 28, 2004

In short, I am not sure what more the left wants.

How about power? Clinton's first 4 years were a debacle, the administration was way too left for the general public. Fire Jocelyn Elders, Les Aspin and hire David Gergen (this was brilliant by the way) and the second 4 years moved decidedly toward the middle. In 2002 the GOP picked up two seats in the Senate, garnering a majority, and picked up four more in the house expanding the majority, this just fries the Michael Moore wing of the Dems and they will say anything to regain more control. Additionally, they are being aided by a large segment of the press (CBS, ABC, NYT, et.al.)

blogic

on Oct 28, 2004

"Please subtantiate this claim."

Thanks for your comment, T.B.,

As I usually do, I linked to the source of my info -- you'll see it in the original post. The thing to remember is that while liberals may report the news, conservatives usually own the media companies.Editor and Publisher -- "America's Oldest Journal Covering the Newspaper Industry" -- has tons of information about newspaper endorsements.

Kerry currently leads Bush 162-129, and leads in total circulations of those papers 18.4-11.8 million.

My main point, though, was that dozens of papers have switched from supporting Bush in 2000 to supporting Kerry now.

T B

on Oct 28, 2004

I linked to the source of my info

I didn't find anything but a subscribe screen there.

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