Media Influence on the 2008 Election
The below video has been circulating around the internet for the past few days. Although I don’t fully agree with its message, I thought I would share it because I think that media bias is something that needs addressing. An unbiased documentary by an established source on how the media handled this election would be very interesting and useful. The below video, a promotion for an upcoming documentary, should be taken with a grain of salt. I’m not sure I trust the randomness of the sample of voters, especially those selected for this video.
Zogby Poll: Almost No Obama Voters Ace Election Test - Survey finds most Obama voters remembered negative coverage of McCain/Palin statements but struggled to correctly answer questions about coverage associated with Obama/Biden
512 Obama Voters 11/13/08-11/15/08 MOE +/- 4.4 points
97.1% High School Graduate or higher, 55% College Graduates
Results to 12 simple Multiple Choice Questions
57.4% could NOT correctly say which party controls congress (50/50 shot just by guessing)
81.8% could NOT correctly say Joe Biden quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (25% chance by guessing)
82.6% could NOT correctly say that Barack Obama won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot (25% chance by guessing)
88.4% could NOT correctly say that Obama said his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket (25% chance by guessing)
56.1% could NOT correctly say Obama started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground (25% chance by guessing).
And yet…..
Only 13.7% failed to identify Sarah Palin as the person on which their party spent $150,000 in clothes
Only 6.2% failed to identify Palin as the one with a pregnant teenage daughter
And 86.9 % thought that Palin said that she could see Russia from her “house,” even though that was Tina Fey who said that!!
Only 2.4% got at least 11 correct.
Only .5% got all of them correct. (And we “gave” one answer that was technically not Palin, but actually Tina Fey)
It’s interesting how so many people could unanimously pick up on the Saturday Night Live references and sensational stories, yet they knew nothing about the important things like which party controls congress, or who is Nancy Pelosi and what is her party affiliation. It sort of sheds some light on why congress doesn’t get nearly enough blame for the problems this country is facing. Something the video and poll also demonstrates is the abysmal ability of McCain’s campaign to educate people.
The McCain’s campaign’s strategy of going on Saturday Night Live to participate in self-deprecating skits was not a good strategy at all. They only legitimized the jokes about McCain and Palin that were only meant to be jokes. SNL has been making fun of candidates for years, never before have I seen a candidate so interested in laughing at themselves.
McCain/Palin should have spent that effort trying to get through to people on issues. They should have talked about more than just taxes and Joe the Plumber. There were other fundamental differences that would have mattered to people, had they heard about it.
People, no matter how educated, can form their own opinion on issues. I really believe that. Ask someone how they feel about Issue A and tell them who supports what side, and they’ll dig down into their emotions and rationales to come up with their answer. If you don’t talk about the issues, like in this election, people won’t vote on the issues. They’ll vote on what that funny SNL impersonator took out of context.
Trying to read between the lines in the papers and see the full truth on TV and other media is a lot of work. More work than it should be, I believe. Most people aren’t going to take the initiative to do that all on their own and I don’t blame them. It’s a shame that for probably too many people in this country, this election was nothing but a popularity contest. But a lot of smart people chose Obama for good reasons, and a lot of smart people voted for McCain for good reasons. We can only hope those people were the majority.
So what are we supposed to do about this? Implement a litmus test for voters? If they fail to make a minimum, they fail to qualify to vote? No, you can’t do that. People just need to do a better job of getting the message out and trying to connect with people better. The ability to do that is exactly why Obama did so well in this election and it is why he will be an effective and popular President. And yes, I think he got a little help from the media, but I’m confident that was out of his control and frankly, Palin brought a lot of it on herself.