News Habits & Media

Obama’s big win in Wisconsin shaped the Democrats’ media narrative last week and had some pundits wondering whether Clinton was contemplating her own defeat. And why a New York Times expose about the presumptive GOP nominee may prove to be manna for McCain.

Summary of Findings The public remains highly engaged in the presidential campaign, and strong majorities say the campaign is important, easy to follow, interesting and informative. The public’s only major complaint about the campaign is its length: 57% say it is too long, while 40% disagree. However, campaign fatigue has not increased in recent months. […]

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton dominated coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign last week, but in very different ways. While Obama got a big bounce from primary wins, the Clinton campaign was besieged by bad news. Meanwhile, John McCain inched closer to inevitability.

Summary of Findings Barack Obama is seen by most Democrats as inspiring and as most likely to bring about change. Hillary Clinton is widely viewed as prepared to lead the country, but also hard to like. These are some of the major themes in campaign news coverage — identified by the Project for Excellence in […]

The three candidates with the best shot at next occupying the White House all got extensive coverage in the biggest week yet for campaign news. But none of them generated the headlines he or she really wanted. And, once again, Huckabee proved that the reports of his political demise were premature.

Summary of Findings Public interest in economic news remained high last week as 40% of Americans followed news about the condition of the U.S. economy very closely. Nearly one-in-four Americans (23%) listed the economy as the single news story they were following more closely than any other, placing it second only to the presidential campaign. […]

A look at the public's news interests over the past year shows continuing differences between women and men in the types of news stories that they follow very closely.

By generating more coverage than any other candidate last week, and easily outdistancing his GOP rivals, Senator John McCain rode a media narrative of near inevitability last week. Plus, Senator Ted Kennedy becomes a major newsmaker.

Summary of Findings The presidential campaign continued to dominate national news coverage last week, and the public remained highly engaged in the ongoing contest. Nearly 40% of the national newshole was devoted to the campaign, and 36% of the public listed the campaign as the single news story they were following more closely than any […]

With the South Carolina primary as backdrop, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton finished in a near tie in the media derby. But in a nasty week former President Bill Clinton was a bigger newsmaker than any Republican candidate.