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Thursday December 15, 2005--While
mainstream journalists like to believe that they can keep their own
opinions out of the news they report, the American public disagrees.
Fifty-one percent (51%) of Americans
believe that the opinions of reporters affect the news most or all
of the time. Another 34% believe that the reporter's opinion impacts
news stories at least some of the time.
Only 4% say that opinions of the
reporter rarely or never influence the news.
This view cuts across partisan and demographic lines.
Fifty percent (50%) of Americans get
most of their news and current events information from television.
Newspapers are second at 22% followed by radio at 15% and the
Internet at 9%.
However, generational change is on the
way. Among those under 30, more (18%) rely on the Internet for news
than on radio (14%) or newspapers (14%). Among men under 40, just 9%
rely on newspapers while 22% get most of their news from the
Internet.
Democrats are more likely than
Republicans to rely on newspapers. Republicans are more likely than
Democrats to rely on radio for their news.
Surveys conducted last fall found that
Americans believe television
networks and national
newspapers present news in a biased manner.
Demographic
details are
available for
Premium Members.
Rasmussen Reports is an electronic
publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and
distribution of public opinion polling information. Our publications provide real-time
information on consumer confidence, investor confidence, employment
data, the political situation, and other topics of value and
interest. We provide daily updates on the
economic confidence of Consumers and Investors. Our consumer data
generally identifies trends two to six weeks ahead of traditional
consumer confidence measures.
To keep up with our latest releases, be
sure to visit the Rasmussen Reports Home Page.
The final, certified,
results of Election 2004 show that President George W. Bush received
50.7% of the vote while Senator John Kerry earned 48.3%. Those
figures are very close to the final Rasmussen Reports Daily Tracking Poll.
We projected the President would win 50.2% to 48.5%.
Data in this article was derived from a national telephone survey of
1,000 Adults conducted by Rasmussen Reports February 21-22, 2005. Margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level
of confidence.
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