Politics & Media

In a format the public says it prefers -- "regular people," not journalists, posing the questions -- immigration emerged as the hot-button issue. Were the candidates' answers in sync with GOP voters' opinions?

The presidential race was easily the biggest story in the media last week. But while much of the coverage focused on the attacks on Hillary Clinton at the Democrats’ Drexel University debate, the press also reassessed several other candidates.

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.

Campaign swag and the political network effects of the internet

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

Despite some criticisms of the format, why are the major GOP candidates wary of the YouTube debates?

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 […]