Eighty-seven percent (87%) of Fox News viewers say they are likely to vote for John McCain, while those who watch CNN and MSNBC plan to support Barack Obama in November by more than two to one.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 65% of CNN voters plan to vote for the Democratic candidate versus 26% who intend to go for the Republican. Similarly, MSNBC watchers plan to vote for Obama over McCain 63% to 30%.

Only nine percent of those who watch Fox News say they will vote for Obama (Premium Members can review crosstabs here and here.

Nationally the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll continues to show a very close race for the White House.

In a separate survey, 52% of Americans say they watch local television news for information on the campaign at least several times a week, including 37% who say they watch it every day. Half (50%) say they watch cable news for that information during the week, including 26% who watch daily.

Among those who get their information on the presidential campaign from local television, the new survey finds that the amount of time one watches impacts how they plan to vote. Those who watch local news every day support Obama over McCain 52% to 42%. But for those who say they watch several days a week but not every day, it’s McCain over Obama 50% to 43%.

McCain has the edge among all viewers who tune into cable news of any kind at least once a week.

Those who read a print newspaper during the week are fairly evenly divided between the two candidates, but among those who read the same papers online, Obama has the edge. Among those who get their campaign information from online sources in general, again time spent is the key. Those who go online every day are evenly divided, but over half of those who go online one or more times a week plan to vote for McCain.

While McCain is regarded favorably by 88% of Fox News viewers, only 43% of CNN viewers and 38% of those who watch MSNBC agree. But just 14% of Fox viewers have a favorable opinion of Obama, as opposed to 70% of CNN watchers and 72% of those watching MSNBC.

How voters rate the importance of issues is also reflected in the cable news programming they prefer. For 36% of Fox viewers, national security is the most important issue in the campaign, followed by 32% who say economic issues are number one. By contrast, those who watch CNN rate economic issues over national security 56% to 13%, and MSNBC viewers agree 50% to 12%.

Nationally voters in this election cycle rank economic issues as their primary concern versus national security which was the leading issue in the 2004 election. Those who get their campaign information from local television mirror this view, with nearly half rating economic issues most important versus around one-quarter who put national security first.

Talk radio is also McCain territory. More than 60% of those who listen at least several times a week plan to vote for the Republican versus less than a third who say they will vote for Obama. National security also polls as a much stronger concern among those who listen regularly to talk radio than it does to voters overall.

For Obama there is good news -- and bad news -- in the findings among those who watch the anchors of the three major television networks. Seventy percent (70%) of those who watch CBS’ Katie Couric every day plan to vote for Obama, as do 71% of the daily viewers of ABC’s Charles Gibson and 67% of those watching NBC’s Brian Williams.

The bad news is when asked specifically about the networks and their star news anchors, well over half of Americans say they rarely or never watch Couric or Gibson for information on the presidential campaign. Just under half (49%) say they rarely or never watch Williams.

In a separate survey last month, 49% of voters believed that most reporters are trying to help Obama win the presidency. Only 14% thought they are trying to help McCain win.

In the 2004 election cycle, most Americans felt the three major television networks – ABC, CBS and NBC – and the two chief cable networks, Fox News and CNN, were all biased in their coverage to help the candidate of their choice – Fox for President Bush, the other four for his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry.

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