NEWS AND OPINION:
New research finds that right-leaning cable news channels do a more effective job delivering the news itself than their left-leaning rivals.
A comprehensive new poll from the conservative Media Research Center finds that U.S. voters who rely on CNN and MSNBC are “significantly less informed” about important issues which have surfaced since President Biden took office.
Those issues include the rise of gas prices and inflation as well as persistent problems with illegal immigration — which the study referred to as “Biden’s border disaster.”
How much the poll respondents knew about such issues depended on what cable news channel they watched, the study found.
“A majority of voters (54%) recalled hearing that there had been an average of 2.3 million illegal border crossings each year since Biden took office, a record. But a far higher percentage of Fox News and Newsmax viewers (77%) remembered this news story vs. just 38 percent of CNN and MSNBC viewers,” the study said.
“On every issue we examined, a majority of those who reported mainly watching Fox News or Newsmax said they recalled hearing about the various news stories we polled, while never more than 50 percent of those who watched CNN and MSNBC had the same information. Depending on the issue, the gap between the two groups averaged 23.5%, a huge deficit in the factual information of viewers of liberal cable news,” the research noted.
What does it all mean? L. Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, explains.
“This poll is just more evidence of the leftist media’s corrupt election interference. It’s no surprise that voters who rely on these leftist cable networks for their news are vastly less aware of Joe Biden’s multiple scandals and policy disasters. CNN and MSNBC know exactly what they’re doing, which is to bury the truth of Biden’s failures in order to save Joe Biden from himself,” Mr. Bozell said in a written statement.
The poll was conducted for the Media Research Center between June 15 and June 19 by McLaughlin & Associates. The survey consisted of 1,000 general election voters, who were asked where they typically received their news, then inquired about their knowledge of 11 important news stories.
Find the research at Newsbusters.org.
FOXIFIED
In the week of June 26-July 2, Fox News Channel drew an average audience of 1.4 million prime-time viewers, besting MSNBC with 1.1 million viewers and CNN with 571,000, according to Nielsen Media Research. Fox News also aired 73 of the top 100 cable news telecasts that week.
“The Five” was once again the top cable news program across all categories for the ninth straight week with 2.6 million viewers, followed by “Jesse Watters Primetime” with 2.1 million viewers and “Hannity” with 1.9 million.
In the big picture, Fox News is the most watched network in the cable realm, besting such non-news rivals as ESPN, HGTV and History Channel.
In the mornings, “Fox & Friends” dominated the time slot, averaging 1 million viewers. Comparatively, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” attracted 967,000 viewers while “CNN This Morning” lagged behind with 351,000 viewers.
RAMASWAMY EMERGES
Vivek Ramaswamy is gaining some noteworthy traction as the presidential race continues. A significant new poll of likely Republican voters now ranks the entrepreneur third in popularity among a list of 14 Republican declared or possible presidential hopefuls ahead of some with a much longer political history.
And the numbers? Former President Donald Trump is in first place, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Mr. Ramaswamy.
Former Vice President Mike Pence is in fourth place, followed by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin to round out the top 10.
Mr. Trump commanded 49% of support from the GOP voters, Mr. DeSantis got 16% and Mr. Ramaswamy 10%.
The poll of 413 likely Republican voters was conducted June 26-29 by Echolon Insights.
In the meantime, the candidate has a rigorous campaign schedule — and will soon head off to the Hawkeye State.
Most notably, Mr. Ramaswamy will journey to the city of Ottumwa to join Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann for a “fireside-chat-style conversation on how to defeat the woke Left,” according to a statement from his campaign shared with Inside the Beltway.
The city has a population of 25,000, is in the southeastern portion of the state — and officially describes itself as a “Main Street community.”
RAMASWAMY’S SCHOLARSHIP
The aforementioned Vivek Ramaswamy announced Wednesday that he has personally committed $250,000 to fund a new scholarship meant to “foster national pride among young Americans.”
“As an entrepreneur, I believe in solving problems through private behavior whenever possible. That’s why we are funding a new scholarship to revive patriotism: This year, 10 high school students will be eligible to receive a $25,000 scholarship for concisely articulating what it means to be an American in 2023.
“The scholarship will be administered by Incubate Debate, a nonprofit organization that leads U.S. students to debate important issues of public importance,” Mr. Ramaswamy said in a video posted to Twitter on Wednesday.
There must be some interest out there. The video accumulated half a million views in the first four hours after its debut at the social media site.
Interested students can submit a two-minute video answering a single question: “What does it mean to be an American?”
“Ten winners will be selected by a panel to receive a $25,000 scholarship for post-secondary education, entrepreneurial endeavors, or their commitment to serve in the military or law enforcement role,” Mr. Ramaswamy said in his outreach.
POLL DU JOUR
• 4% of registered U.S. voters describe their economic circumstances as “well-to-do.”
• 19% describe their economic circumstances as “upper middle class.”
• 42% describe their economic circumstances as “middle class.”
• 27% of voters describe their economic circumstances as “working class.”
• 8% describe their economic circumstances as “poor.”
SOURCE: An NBC News/Hart Research survey of 1,000 registered U.S. voters conducted June 16-20 and released Monday.
• Contact Jennifer Harper at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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