Poll Watch: Rasmussen (R) Survey on the 2012 Presidential Election and Media Bias

Rasmussen (R) Poll on the 2012 Presidential Election and Media Bias

When covering a political campaign, do most reporters try to offer unbiased coverage or do they try to help the candidate they want to win?

• Help candidate they want to win 74%
• Offer unbiased coverage 13%
• Not sure 13%

Think for a moment about the two major presidential candidates this year. Which candidate received the best treatment from the media so far—Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?

• Barack Obama 59%
• Mitt Romney 18%
• Not sure 23%

Looking ahead to the campaign between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, will most reporters try to help Barack Obama, offer unbiased coverage, or try to help Mitt Romney?

• Help Barack Obama 51%
• Offer unbiased coverage 22%
• Help Mitt Romney 9% 
• Not sure 18%

Suppose a reporter learned some news that might politically hurt a candidate they wanted to win. Would most reporters hide that information to help the candidate?

• Yes 54%
• No 24%
• Not sure 22%

When it comes to information about the Presidential campaign, who do you trust more—news reporters or family and friends?

• Family and friends 48%
• News reporters 26%
• Not sure 26%

Survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted August 8-9, 2012. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points.

Inside the numbers:

Seventy-three percent (73%) of Republicans and 66% of voters not affiliated with either major party believe Obama has received the best treatment from the media so far. Just 41% of Democrats agree, but only 25% of voters in the president’s party think Romney has been better treated.

Similarly, 74% of GOP voters and 56% of unaffiliateds predict that most reporters will try to help Obama between now and Election Day. Among Democrats, 35% expect most reporters to offer unbiased coverage, while 25% think they’ll try to help the president. Only 13% of Democrats think most reporters will try to help Romney.

Most voters in all three groups agree that reporters try to help the candidate they want to win, but Democrats don’t believe it as strongly as Republicans and unaffiliated voters do.