Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Summary of Findings Long one of America’s best-known and best-liked media figures, Oprah Winfrey saw her popularity slip after her endorsement of Barack Obama last year. A new survey shows that her image has not recovered, and opinions about the talk show host have become increasingly divided along partisan political lines. Currently, 68% of Americans […]
Summary of Findings Barack Obama may be building an insurmountable lead in the Democratic primary race, but the public is sending a strong message to journalists and pundits: It is too early to declare, as some already have, that the race is over. Fully 72% of the public – including comparable percentages of Democrats, Republicans […]
Summary of Findings Democratic voters are not as positive about Barack Obama as they were a month ago. Somewhat smaller percentages of Democrats describe Obama in favorable terms, and he has lost his lead over Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination. Nationally, Democratic voters are about evenly divided between Obama and Clinton; […]
While the dynamics of the Democratic primary contest continue to fluctuate, voter preferences in general election matchups between either Obama or Clinton and McCain remain stable. Among registered voters nationwide, Barack Obama holds a six-point edge over McCain (50% to 44%) while Clinton leads McCain by a comparable margin (49% to 45%). Neither race has […]
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton generated a huge portion of the headlines last week as Pennsylvanians finally went to the polls. The issue of race re-emerged to play a substantial role in the media’s Democratic campaign narrative. And Republican John McCain struggled to be heard through the din.
If both Obama and Clinton enjoyed success in controlling the master narratives about their campaigns, and McCain less so, how did the public respond? How closely did public opinion about the candidates match up with the major media narratives about the campaigns? And which candidates fared best? To find out, the Pew Research Center for […]
Key West, Florida A voter at a New Hampshire polling station. Some of the nation’s leading journalists gathered in Key West, Fla., in May 2008 for the Pew Forum’s biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life. William A. Galston, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution and an assistant for domestic policy […]
The key media narrative last week involved growing pressure on Hillary Clinton to withdraw from the primary fight. Meanwhile, Barack Obama tried his hand at hands-on campaigning while John McCain hoped to grab the media’s attention with a tour of some old stomping grounds.
Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton hold roughly comparable leads in head-to-head matchups with John McCain. Obama edges McCain by a 49% to 43% margin among registered voters nationwide; Clinton holds an almost identical 49% to 44% edge. Obama and Clinton held similar leads over McCain in late February. Yet there are positive signs for […]
The two Democratic contenders went at it last week, battling over Barack Obama’s “bitter” remarks at a California fundraiser and over the ABC debate that some said had too much “gotcha.” Trailing in the race for attention, John McCain saw the media examine everything from his economic policy to his temper last week.