Newspapers play a large role in providing election information to voters

Much has been made of the types of voters that have voted for a given candidate in a Democratic primary and whom voters will vote for in the general election. But little has been said about what medium will carry the most weight for voters when it comes to deciding for whom to pull the lever. A recent study by Moore Information for the Newspaper Association of America looked at just that. The study looked at who Americans would vote for in the general election in November and from where they will get their information.

When asked the frequency with which they read a newspaper, 79 percent of voters said they read a newspaper once a week or more. Forty six percent said they read a newspaper daily.

Of those voters who said they would vote for Senator Obama, 77 percent read a newspaper once a week or more and 46 percent read a newspaper daily. Eighty one percent of those who said they would vote for Senator McCain read a newspaper once a week or more and 44 percent read one daily.

Fifty seven percent of voters planning to vote in the November election said they would use the Internet to find information about candidates and campaigns and only the candidate’s website beat out the local newspaper website for where people will go on the Internet to get election information.

Many studies have been conducted on voters’ newspaper reading habits. All of these studies (Costas Panagoupolus’ Yale University American Voter Media Us, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Moore Information and the Cromer Group) have produced similar results:
-- Eight out of ten newspaper readers voted in the last two presidential elections;
-- Fifty five percent, a majority of all voters, read a newspaper every day;
-- Three out of four undecided voters are regular newspaper readers; and
-- Newspapers have higher believability among voters than any other
medium.

A recent article published in the Wall Street Journal “Political Ads Stage a Comeback in Newspapers” (7/26/07) quoted Jordan Lieberman, Campaigns & Elections magazine publisher, as saying “recognition is growing that newspapers are highly effective and highly cost-effective.” Newspapers and newspaper web sites are capturing an increasing share of the political advertising budgets.

Source: Moore Information, Portland, OR/Washington DC April, 2008

This monthly newsletter is a service provided by Customized Newspaper Advertising. For more information on the newspaper advertising industry, please contact Customized Newspaper Advertising at cna@cnaads.com.

To unsubscribe, please send an e-mail to cna@cnaads.com and your name will be removed from our subscription list.

ARCHIVES: VIEW PAST ISSUES OF IREACH