Americans Divided Over Whether There Is Too Much Media Coverage of Election

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- The "saturation coverage" of the Florida election recount and its numerous court battles has taken on a life of its own, with major newspapers devoting special sections to the controversy and networks offering round-the-clock coverage on television. The latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, conducted Nov. 26-27, asked Americans their opinions of both the coverage and the recount controversy itself.

Do Americans Think There Is Too Much Coverage of the Controversy?
As with most issues in this campaign, American opinion about the level of media coverage is split right down the middle. Just over half (51%) of those surveyed say the amount of coverage is about right, while 47% say it is too much. However, only 1% say the media is paying too little attention to the recount.

By way of comparison, a Gallup poll conducted in July 1999 found that 58% of Americans thought the media paid too much attention to the plane crash of John F. Kennedy Jr. Similar Gallup polls conducted shortly after other recent major events produced these results:

April 1999: The Columbine High School Shootings
Too much coverage: 47%
About right: 50%

January 1998: The Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal
Too much coverage: 72%
About right: 22%

September 1997: The Death of Princess Diana
Too much coverage: 49%
About right: 49%

Are Americans still paying attention to the recount coverage? In a word, yes. Nearly eight out of 10 Americans (77%) say they are following the news about the coverage either "very" or "somewhat" closely, although this percentage is down from earlier this month, when a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found 87% of Americans were following the election recount closely (Nov. 11-12).

Roughly one-third of Americans (35%) are especially interested in news about the election, saying they are following the story very closely. This highly attentive group skews older, is well educated, and tends to be more Republican than Democratic. For instance, only 19% of 18- to 29-year-olds say they are following it very closely, compared to 36% of those aged 30-49 and 43% in the 50 and older age bracket. Forty-three percent of Republicans are tuning in heavily, compared to just 34% of Democrats.

Compared to other news events about which Gallup has asked, the presidential election controversy has an extremely high ranking, on par with the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. in 1999 and the Elian Gonzalez case earlier this year. However, fewer Americans are paying very close attention to the election today compared with the death of Princess Diana in 1997 (55%) or the start of the 1991 ground war in Iraq (53%).

Do Americans Believe the Media Coverage Is Fair?
Nearly two out of three Americans surveyed believe media coverage of the Florida situation has not been biased toward either candidate, with 23% believing the media favor Vice President Al Gore and 10% believing the media favor Texas Governor George W. Bush. However, there are some partisan differences. Among Bush supporters, 45% believe the media coverage has shown a bias toward the Gore campaign, while just 18% of Gore's supporters perceive a pro-Bush bias.

Overall, 48% of those surveyed approve of the media's handling of this situation, while 48% disapprove.

Are Americans Getting Tired of the Media Coverage?
Again, the public is split, but a slight majority of Americans appear to be getting fatigued after weeks of coverage. Only 7% describe themselves as "fascinated" by the recount coverage, while 37% say they are "interested." On the other hand, 17% say they are "bored" and 38% describe themselves as "fed up." Of this last group, Bush supporters are more likely than Gore supporters to describe themselves as "fed up" -- 47% of Bush supporters give this answer compared to 30% of Gore supporters.

Survey Methods

The results below are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 881 adults, 18 years and older, conducted Nov. 26-27, 2000. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 4 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

"Do you think the media has been paying too much attention or the right amount of attention to the election situation in Florida?"

 

	Too much	Right amount	TOO LITTLE (vol.)	No opinion
	%	%	%	%
2000 Nov 26-27
National Adults	47	51	1	1
Gore supporters	40	57	1	2
Bush supporters	53	46	*	1
No preference	49	49	1	1
(vol.) Volunteered response
* Less than 0.5%

"Which of these words best describes how you feel about the day-to-day news coverage of the election situation in Florida? Are you -- [ROTATED: fascinated, interested, bored, (or) fed up]?"

 

	Fascinated	Interested	Bored	Fed up	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%
2000 Nov 26-27
National Adults	7	37	17	38	1
Gore supporters	10	42	18	30	0
Bush supporters	6	36	10	47	1
No preference	2	31	25	40	2

"Thinking about the media's coverage of the Florida recount, do you think the media has been -- [ROTATED: biased in favor of Al Gore (or) biased in favor of George W. Bush], or has it not been biased toward either candidate?"

 

	Biased in favor of Gore	Biased in favor of Bush	No bias toward either candidate	No opinion
	%	%	%	%
2000 Nov 26-27
National Adults	23	10	63	4
Gore supporters	6	18	74	2
Bush supporters	45	4	48	3
No preference	7	12	74	7