Distrust Of Media And Polls Make Election Impossible To Predict
By Thomas D. Segel
October 30, 2008
Here is a paradox. A writer, writing for the media, an article that basically says the media is in the tank. This story is further complicated because it exposes a conundrum.
If we were to take what we hear and read throughout the American mainstream media and decide it were a proven fact.... Barrack Obama has already been elected President of the United States of America. However, Mark Twain said it best..."If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the paper you are misinformed." Today that idea could be expanded to include television and radio news.
According to a survey conducted by Sacred Heart University early this year, faith in the American media has been in steady decline for more than a decade. Today less than 19% of adults believe most of what the media is telling them. Almost 24% of Americans say they believe little or nothing that is presented by the mainstream media. Only a little more than half of the people believe some of what is read in news publications or is electronically transmitted.
Most observers believe that people have decided there is little attempt by the media to inform the public. Instead, they believe most news outlets are attempting to influence opinion.
In January of this year pollsters found that the public feels:
The New York Times is left leaning... 41.9%
National Public Radio is left leaning...40.3%
MSNBC is left leaning...38.8%
CNN is left leaning...11.9%
Fox News is right leaning...48.7%
On accuracy of reporting Fox News got 27%, CNN received 14%, NBC received 10.9%, ABC was given 7%, CBS pulled 6.8%, MSNBC received 4% and PBS earned 3%.
None of these figures show much confidence in the media as it is being offered to Americans today.
There is also wide spread belief that publications and electronic media are utilizing opinion polls as news sources rather than actually gathering the news using their own personnel. There is also a strong belief that media outlets generating such polls attempt to shape poll questions to project specific outcomes they are seeking.
So, how do Americans respond to all of this polling? According to Web Wire in May of 2008, four out of ten people, a huge 40%, say they pay little or no attention to political opinion polls. Thirty three percent of those questioned say they only pay some attention.
As to accuracy, fifty seven percent of the people think polls are somewhat accurate, while twenty percent feel they are not very accurate and 10 percent feel they are not accurate at all. Added to this, a whopping 83% of Americans say the results of political polls have little to no influence on how they vote.
What does this entire mean to the presidential election? Well, if Americans don't believe their own national media and Americans don't really trust any of the opinion polls.... and most of the media and polls are projecting Obama victory... it would appear the country doesn't accept this premise. To any objective mind, this would say the results of the presidential election are still impossible to predict.
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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.
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