Senior Citizens are Only Age Group Where a Majority
Do Not Like Election Press Coverage
Seniors joined by Republicans and Men as groups
rating presidential election press coverage low in Pew survey
Quality of press coverage is
Age
Excellent/Good %
Fair/Poor %
DK %
18-34
59
36
5
35-49
50
49
1
50-65
52
47
1
65+
44
53
3
Oct. 16, 2008 New research by the Pew Research
Center finds a majority (53%) of Americans rate press coverage of the presidential
campaign as excellent or good. Oops, not senior citizens. They are the
only age group in which a majority does not rate the press coverage as
excellent or good.
Opinions about the quality of campaign coverage
appear to be correlated with age, according to the analysis by the Pew
Research Center for the People & the Press.
A 59% majority of young people (ages 18-34) rate
press coverage positively, while middle-aged Americans are more divided
on the quality of campaign reporting. Among older Americans (those 65
and older), most say the coverage is only fair or poor (53%), compared
with 44% who say it is excellent or good.
In June, the over-all press ratings were nearly the
reverse, with a narrow majority (54%) calling the coverage only fair or
poor and somewhat fewer rating it excellent or good (43%).
Impressions of press coverage run strongly along
party lines. In the current poll, fully 70% of Democrats rate press
coverage positively, but fewer than four-in-ten (38%) Republicans share
this view. Independents, meanwhile, are divided on the subject.
From June to now, the opinions of Republicans have
not changed, but among Democrats the share who rate the job the press is
doing positively increased 20 points (50% 'excellent' or 'good' in June
and 70% now).
A greater percentage of women than men give the
press high marks on how well they are covering the campaign. Six-in-ten
women (59%) rate the job the press is doing as excellent or good, while
fewer than half (46%) of men do. Notably, in early June at the close of
primary season, majorities of both men (55%) and women (54%) saw
campaign coverage as only fair or poor.
From the public's perspective, some aspects of the
presidential campaign have been covered better than others. Americans
give the press high marks for coverage of the candidate debates and
reporting on which candidate is leading in the latest polls. For both of
these facets of the campaign, 62% say that the press has done an
excellent or good job and a third says its performance has been only
fair or poor.
About half (52%) say that the press has done only a
fair or poor job in covering campaign strategies and the same percentage
says this about coverage of the candidates' positions on issues.
Somewhat fewer view coverage of these two aspects of the campaign
positively. In both cases, 44% say that campaign reporting has been
excellent or good.
The area in which the public sees the greatest
weakness in campaign coverage is in news about the candidates' personal
backgrounds and experiences. A majority (54%) say that the press has
done only a fair or poor job, while roughly four-in-ten (41%) say the
coverage has been excellent or good.
As seen in their overall ratings of campaign
coverage, Republicans express more critical views on specific aspects of
campaign reporting than either Democrats or independents. Roughly two
thirds of Republicans offer only fair or poor ratings for how well the
press has covered campaign strategies (66%), candidates' backgrounds
(65%) and the issue positions they hold (64%).
Other highlights:
● A majority of Americans (55%) now say that the
campaign is too negative. This is up significantly from 43% a month ago
and represents a dramatic change from the beginning of the primary
season when only 28% said the campaign was too negative.
● The public has consistently found the
presidential campaign to be interesting. Seven-in-ten said it was
interesting in February 2008; 59% in April; and 68% in mid-September.
● Nearly two-thirds (63%) now say the campaign
has been informative, while only 34% say it has not been informative.
● A majority of the public (57%) says the
campaign has been too long, while 39% say it has not been too long.
● A substantial majority of Americans (65%)
continued to pay very close attention to news about the economy last
week. This is down slightly from 69% the previous week but still
extremely high from a historical perspective. In addition, 59% followed
news about the recent downturn in the U.S. stock market very closely.
These findings are based on the most recent
installment of the weekly News Interest Index, an ongoing project of the
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The index, building on
the Center's longstanding research into public attentiveness to major
news stories, examines news interest as it relates to the news media's
agenda. The weekly survey is conducted in conjunction with The Project
for Excellence in Journalism's News Coverage Index, which monitors the
news reported by major newspaper, television, radio and online news
outlets on an ongoing basis. In the most recent week, data relating to
news coverage were collected from October 6-12 and survey data measuring
public interest in the top news stories of the week were collected
October 10-13 from a nationally representative sample of 1,006 adults.
From the public's perspective, some aspects of the
presidential campaign have been covered better than others. Americans
give the press high marks for coverage of the candidate debates and
reporting on which candidate is leading in the latest polls. For both of
these facets of the campaign, 62% say that the press has done an
excellent or good job and a third says its performance has been only
fair or poor.