In a February 20-26, 2007 survey conducted for the Politics Online Conference 2007, the George Washington University's Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet paired with Zogby Interactive to question 1,757 likely voters about their perceptions of media bias. The pollsters found 'the vast majority of American voters believe media bias is alive and well,' with only a tiny 11 percent of the public saying they don't think the media take political sides. And by a huge margin, the public suggested the media's bias tilts in favor of liberals, not conservatives.
KEY FINDINGS:
The vast majority of American voters detected media bias: '83 percent of likely voters said the media is biased in one direction or another, while just 11 percent believe the media doesn't take political sides,' Zogby reported.
By a huge margin, most of those who saw media bias thought it favored liberals: 'Nearly two-thirds of those online respondents who detected bias in the media (64 percent) said the media leans left, while slightly more than a quarter of respondents (28 percent) said they see a conservative bias.'
Republicans and independents both saw the media as dominated by liberals, and even some Democratic voters agreed: 'While 97 percent of Republicans surveyed said the media are liberal, two-thirds of political independents feel the same....Just two-thirds of Democrats were certain the media skewed right — and 17 percent said the bias favored the left.'
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