87% of Networks’ Coverage of GOP Is Negative — Kari Lake Scores 100%

What would we in America do without the mainstream media? We could even possibly judge political candidates without bias or hindrance. Fortunately, major evening newscasts are around to provide 87% negative midterm coverage of the GOP.

A new Media Research Center study covering Sept. 1 to Oct. 26 found that midterm election news in CBS, ABC, and NBC’s evening broadcasts is about as negative on Republicans as it was during the Trump presidency (88% in 2018). But while that 87% number is already appalling, Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake scored a perfect 100% negative coverage.

MRC found that “dominant topics” in the networks’ campaign coverage “perfectly match the topmost items in Democrats’ campaign playbook.” So, for instance, the networks spent 54 minutes, or one-fourth of midterm coverage, on abortion or abortion-related accusations against Georgia GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker. But a September Gallup poll showed only four percent of voters listed abortion as the “most important problem” facing America. That same poll said 38% of voters named “an economic issue” as their top concern, yet “the economy was only the fifth-most cited issue within these midterm stories.”

Talk about being out of touch with voters.

MRC also found that, while coverage of President Trump (almost entirely negative) accounted for 48% of midterm coverage in 2018, this year‘s election coverage included a mere nine “evaluative comments” about Joe Biden — although, surprisingly, seven were negative. Trump received 54 negative comments in 2018.

And that is all despite the fact that Trump’s approval rating was slightly higher than what Biden currently has going into the midterms. The media wouldn’t want to pay attention to what voters think during an election year, of course.

Election coverage on NBC, CBS, and ABC focused largely on four candidates, according to MRC: Democrat Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman and Republicans Herschel Walker, Kari Lake, and Fetterman’s opponent Mehmet Oz. Stroke-damaged Fetterman did receive 81% negative coverage, while Oz received 82% negative.

Unsubstantiated claims that Walker paid for two women’s abortions received the most airtime in election stories, and coverage of him was 89% negative. Lake, as mentioned above, received 100% negative coverage.

Other Democrat candidates, including Georgia’s Stacey Abrams, received glowing news coverage, MRC wrote. And although Abrams denied the legitimacy of her election loss in her last run for governor, the networks only called conservatives “election deniers.”