Election News

How have the news media covered the early months of the 2008 presidential election? Which candidate enjoyed the most exposure, which the best, and which the worst? With the race starting so early, did the press leap to horse race coverage from the start? A study by PEJ and Harvard’s Shorenstein Center has answers.

Summary of Findings The 2008 presidential campaign began much earlier than usual, but public interest in the campaign is at most only modestly higher than in previous campaigns. While Democrats are following the campaign more closely than at the same stage in previous primary contests, Republicans are no more engaged than in the past, resulting […]

When he formally enters the 2008 race this week, former Sen. Fred Thompson can behave in all ways like a presidential candidate. But on his "testing the waters" website, I'mwithFred.com, he's already been busy reaching out to supporters.

Now that Fred Thompson has formally announced his candidacy for President, his live campaign can begin to match the vigorous cyberspace campaign he's been running for months. In a follow-up to a July 12 report on the Web sites of the other Presidential hopefuls, PEJ finds that Thompson’s full-service site is among the most sophisticated of anyone running--even before he had declared.

Pew Internet, Pew Research, and McKinsey analysts all come to similar conclusions: the online news space is active and ripe for innovation.

Summary of Findings The 2008 presidential campaign remained a top tier news story last week both in terms of coverage and public interest. The campaign has been one of the top five most covered news stories for much of the year, and public interest has remained fairly consistent. This past week, the national news media […]

The presidential hopefuls are using their web sites for unprecedented two-way communication with citizens. But what are voters learning here? Is it more than a way to bypass the media? A new PEJ study of 19 campaign sites finds Democrats are more interactive, Republicans are more likely to talk about “values,” and neither wants to talk about ideology.

Summary of Findings At this early stage of the 2008 campaign, about half of the public believes that press coverage of the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates has been fair. But there are sizable partisan differences in evaluations of campaign coverage. Notably, a plurality of Republicans believes the press has gone too easy on Democratic […]

Heading into their first debate Thursday evening, what Republican candidates for the presidency need most is to gain visibility. The latest News Interest Index survey finds Clinton and Obama are far more visible, even to Republicans.

Americans flocked in record numbers to their favorite media sources for political news last fall. In this report, fans of newspaper, TV and online news sites tell how and why they differ.