Politics/Government

Do newspaper endorsements play a role in your vote?

Jon Gordon Oct 26, 2012
36

Newspapers in Milwaukee and St. Paul have decided to withhold some endorsements this political season. Today’s Question: Do newspaper endorsements play a role in your vote?

  • Bob

    No.

  • Jim G

    No. I don’t ask my father, mother, brother, sisters, friends, business partners, or the fiends that rule Wall Street. Why would you think I’d want or need to rely on editorial referrals when I have a lifetime of experience and wisdom learned in the school of hard knocks.

  • Cat

    I long ago made up my mind about who I would support this year for the presidency and congress, as well as for the state legislature. Where Star Tribune endorsements help me is on some of the down-ticket and non-partisan races where I feel least knowledgeable — but not to the extent of choosing to vote for the individual because the newspaper did, rather to clarify some of the issues and prompt me to look closer at the field for judges, school board members and the like.

  • John O.

    No.

  • Gary F

    None.

    Being a conservative and mostly voting Republican, and seeing that newspaper editorial boards are made up of 95% or so liberal Democrats, it just doesn’t matter. That is also a reason why their readership is down so greatly, conservatives don’t buy their papers.

    What is fun, almost sport, is to predict what “bone” will be thrown to us conservatives so that the editorial board can say they didn’t endorse just Democrats.

  • Philip

    I’ll put the – h e l l – in the NO!

  • Clark

    No

    Editorial boards appear to be as clueless on what drives the economy as their current clueless president.

    No wonder many papers have gone BK, their opinions are leftish trash.

  • Pearly

    None.

    Being a conservative and mostly voting Republican, and seeing that newspaper editorial boards are made up of 95% or so liberal Democrats, it just doesn’t matter. That is also a reason why their readership is down so greatly, conservatives don’t buy their papers.

    What is fun, almost sport, is to predict what “bone” will be thrown to us conservatives so that the editorial board can say they didn’t endorse just Democrats.

    Posted by Gary F | October 26, 2012 7:37 AM

    +1

  • linda

    Only for the less wellknown candidates for state offices. The federal offices I have selected way back months ago. I am interested to see why we disagree when we disagree.

  • Mark in Freeborn

    Our local daily newspaper is little more than bird-cage lining, so I don’t bother reading their endorsements, much less anything else it prints. That being said, I don’t put much stock in endorsements. If I can’t find out where a candidate stands on my own, I surely won’t let a newspaper tell me who I should vote for.

  • Tim B

    In local elections, a local newspaper’s endorsement can change everything, but presidential endorsements only serve to illuminate the political bias ofthe editors.

    The effectiveness of those endorsements is definitely relative to the newspaper’s trust in the community.

  • David

    Newspaper endorsements haven’t played a role so far. Oblivious to them though guesses could be made.

    Wondering now which ones endorse Libertarian and Green Parties.

  • david

    What’s a newspaper?

  • Britt Rohrbaugh

    The Duluth News Tribune, owned by a conservative-leaning company in Fargo, ND, continues to endorse every Republican candidate up for election. Their endorsements are only a source of humor in a town that is overwhelmingly liberal Democrat! Frustrating, for sure. Influential? Not a chance.

  • Wally

    When I once subscribed to an establishment rag, I’d read their endorsements, so I’d have some guidelines on who NOT to vote for.

    And any endorsement was so lame, so vacillating, I didn’t see how it could help a candidate anyway.

  • Steve the Cynic

    No. I’d like to see “Select-A-Candidate” like MPR does for all the down-ballot races, or maybe a generic one one for legislative races that would help voters choose a party, if not a candidate.

  • Lou

    Two years ago, during the most recent gubernatorial contest, virtually every major newspaper in the area endorsed Tom Horner for governor. This included the Star Tribune, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Duluth Tribune, the Fargo Forum, the Rochester Post-Bulletin, the St Cloud Times, etc. and yet he still received less than 12% of the vote. I would say that newspaper endorsements play a very small role in deciding elections.

  • Linda in Plymouth

    A newspaper carries little weight in communist countries becuase they have shown to not be objective toward each party . So, it seems the Washington Post and the NY Times also carries no weight on voters. Even NPR refuse to air stories that show President Obama to have failed. e.g., he didn’t save our Benghazi consulate people but instead he flies to his Nevada fund raising the very next day and then has his people make up stories to hide his failures. WOMEN WANT TO TRUST THE MAN WHO HOLDS THE PRESIDENCY. WE DO NOT TRUST OBAMA anymore. Smooth talking phoney. And he controls too many newspapers so we don’t trust so many newspapers either.

  • GregX

    i don’t like an organization that claims its objective and then writes opinion pieces. ask hard questions, do research, publish what you can prove. everything else is … not fit for print.

  • Linda in Plymouth

    I just now changed my mind…after seeing Obama’s endorsed TV ad of “A woman’s First time” so now they get women votes by saying we should want a president that is like what we want in who we choose to lose our virginity to as a comparison? Obama thinks women are stupid. I think news papers should show candidate’s records side by side before they endorse anyone. Such as these records:

    1. who promised ( but didn’t succeed) to balance the debt and cut debt in half during his first year?

    2. who promised to close the gittanomo prison camp but didn’t?

    3. who promised to grow the USA economy and help more growth in jobs if he spent another $870 billion? ( no growth, 23 million out of work and twice more on food stamps.)

    4. who [promised but failed again, to have energy plan to stop foreign dependency? ( he spent 90 billion on failed green energy companies and some had jobs shipped to China and mexico ) in the 2008 Obama speech, he said his plans would “neccesarily see electricity rates sky rocket and coal companies would go bankrupt”_ how that helps America become independent from foreign oil? No, it does not. False promises again.

    5. In 2004-2011, Obama said “marriage should be between one man and one woman” Then he changes to get a few more gay votes while attacking Catholics. Two faced person is what that looks like. As a senator, Obama said fought in illinois to be sure no physician would have to save the life of a baby from a failed abortion. He also said, ” a woman shouldn’t have to be “saddle down” with a child. His Biden said in a speech, that he understood China’s stance to use abortion to control population and be sure more males than females are born. Chinese women are dragged from home to be forced in abortions every day, as we speak_ go to China and see this and hear the stories that USA media ignores. When a government makes getting abortion any time and anywhere, then the government can force citizens to have abortions when they feel it is a national need. Obama wrote in his book before election that he “was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia”, but now he says he is born in Hawaii..what is truth? He lies each time again.

    I answer his new TV First Time advertisement with this, ” Women wouldn’t sleep with any man for first time that was ever like him, because we hate men who make so many promises and then laugh when they don’t deliver promises. Obama sounds more and more like the old Soviet dictators that smooth talked the public to get elected and gain more power . Socialism is the step to communism and Obama surrounds himself with outspoken socialists.. plus he says he can’t do math above 13 year old 7th grade level, so why media says he was so brilliant when he hides his college records and won’t accept getting $5 million for charity when he releases it. why he breaks promises and lies and hides_ would you sleep with that kind of man? No we would not.

  • Linus

    Yes..they do influence those who do not bother to learn the truths. I dare say that Ms Linda, immigrant from I would guess is likely some former USSR country, said it best; women are not that stupid. Is she correct in that our chief has blatantly lied and uses the newspapers and cable media to provide cover for him?

    You decide: The article from the Blaze stated_

    “”Obama’s love affair with the Muslim Brotherhood poses a clear and present danger to America, but worst of all are the lies and failure to act, especially in Benghazi, that got my buddies KILLED,” says Brad Nagel, 20 year Navy veteran and former SEAL.

    Newly released emails indicate that the Obama White House KNEW WITHIN 30 MINUTES of the initial uprising that the American Embassy in Benghazi was under full terrorist attack. An American drone reportedly sent the State Department situation room real time footage of the jihadist assault. As State Department officials watched the bloody, clearly pre-planned and well organized attack unfold; our Commander in Chief refused to take action. It has been further reported that instead of staying in the situation room, the President retired to his quarters for an early bed time, leaving horrified State Department personnel alone with the live feed horrors from Benghazi.

    Of the four killed during that 7 hour battle, 2 of the people died in the final hour. Ty Woods, a former SEAL teammate of Nagel’s was one of the last to die. “Ty ran his weapon dry and killed 50 jihadists before he was taken down. If this Administration had used the intel they had and sent help, my friend might still be alive” said Nagel.

    Other SEALs are just as furious with Obama.

    “If Obama sent Ambassador Stephens to a death sentence mission in Benghazi; what will he be willing to do to the American people to appease what appear to be deep Muslim Brotherhood ties?” – asked former Navy SEAL Benjamin Smith.

  • Steven

    newspapers can not influence any vote if they have a record of ignoring stories to be fair. For example, Obama and Michelle both endorsed partial birth abortion( i.e., a baby born alive after a chemical infusion to abort but then ice picked in the head to finish their gruesome job.) They and too many of these newspapers all endorse Planned Parenthood but r

    refused to discuss where this agency began and the racism behind it. See this bit of history before endorsing anyone. blackgenocide.org/sanger.html

  • Linda in Plymouth

    What does this care about newspapers when tonight we hear facts that Obama administration refused to give some clarity and talk about why HE refused to aid the consulate in Benghazi? Seal Woods was told to stand down but he went in to try to save Ambassador Stevens and was killed. Meanwhile our President went to bed to ready for his Vegas fund raiser in the morn ing. Who in right mind would vote Obama as leader, he won’t protect his own people in consulate so you think he would make orders to protect us?

    I am sorry_ President Obama should be impeached for dirrelection (sp) of duty and for the cover up.

    Obama won’t say who told UN Ambassador Rice, who told her to lie to the news shows days after?..he refuses to talk.

  • Alison

    You’d have to put the question to our hamsters. They’re the only ones who see the paper.

  • Lu Cortesi

    I’m sure newspapers are the primary source of candidate information for many older readers. Personally, I was researching the candidates for judicial office- which are notoriously hard to find out about, but I was able with the internet to find some that I could cross off my list based on their own platforms. Then I read some of the endorsements in the paper and compared them to what I had decided on my own.

    What I determined is that newspapers don’t really help because they aren’t partisan enough. They, like the candidates themselves, can’t just say plainly what they think without talking about a candidates accomplishments and virtues and records, which doesn’t mean anything to the average voter.

  • jockamo

    “I’m the first president to vote early. Yes, I am, yes, I can!” B.O.

    You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht,

    Your hat strategically dipped below one eye,

    Your scarf it was apricot.

    You had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself gavotte.

    And you thought all the girls dreamed that they’d be your partner,

    They’d be your partner, and…

    Barack’s so vain, he probably thinks this song is about him.

    Barack’s so vain, I’ll bet he thinks this song is about him,

    Don’t he be? Don’t he be?

    You had the votes four years ago,

    when voters were still quite naive.

    Well you said that we made such a pretty pair,

    And that you would never leave.

    But we’re getting rid of the things we never loved,

    and one of them is you.

    We have some dreams, now you’re just clouds in our coffee,

    Clouds in our coffee, and…

    Barack’s so vain, he probably thinks this song is about him,

    barack’s so vain, I’ll bet he thinks this song is about him,

    Don’t he be? Don’t he be? Don’t he be?

    Well I hear you went up to Oslo Norway,

    and your horse crap naturally won.

    Then you flew your lear jet up to Madison Wisconsin,

    To see the total eclipse of the Dems.

    Well college is where you should be all the time,

    And when you’re not you’re with

    that Jerimiah Wright guy, or the wife of a close friend,

    Wife of a close friend, and…

    You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you

    You’re so vain, I’ll bet you think this song is about you

    Don’t you? Don’t You? Don’t you?

  • Steve the Cynic

    Keep posting, Linda, jockamoo/georges, et al. The longer you rant, the more ridiculous your opinions appear. Obama is obviously not a marxist. (The core tenet of marxism is the abolition of private property. If you’re not advocating that, you’re not a marxist. Can you cite any example of him doing that?) Once I see a posting that describes Obama as a marxist, I can confidently ignore the rest of it, because I know the writer is ignorant.

  • Linda in Plymouth

    Steve the Cynic knows little but uses false arguments..people post but he is paid to counter others instead of saying his view. Steve said, “The core tenet of marxism is the abolition of private property. If you’re not advocating that, you’re not a marxist. Can you cite any example of him doing that?) yes.

    Obama had government choose how GM and Chrysler did bankruptcy..Obama took away the rights of bond and share holders by ordering the unions to be paid first, he violated our laws on bankruptcy and has government controlling GM. Chrysler got big money to let Italian FIAT buy them. GM still owes taxpayers half of what they got free. Obama signed section 1031 of NDAA.,three months ago, Federal government moved to allow the confiscation of virtually all private property in the United States, the nationalization of entire industries and the indefinite detention of American citizens. All it would take for such martial law to be imposed is for the determination to be made/claimed that the national security requires it.

    Order gives the Federal government the authority to do just about anything it wants to do in relation to private property and resources if it claims that its actions are warranted as necessary for national security or respond to a peacetime national emergency. Would that include a national strike? In other words, this Executive Order appears to be all that is necessary for the President to order the nationalization of virtually any industry or resource, including forced labor.

    Go see how he lied to us on Benghazi murders, on Fast and Furious scandal, on lies of most of his campaign..Has anyone seen his past speeches saying he wanted a civilian security force as large as our military? Why that? Hitler did the Youth Borwn Shirts. Have you seen the first graduating class of the 18-24 year olds only, in Obama’s FEMA-NCCS and Homeland Defense joint cooperation plan? Why we need that when it is the National Guard run by Governors to handle emergencies.

    Trust in him? He has none.

  • jockamo

    The TV ad “A woman’s First Time” is certainly a new low for the United States of America.

    A new low in morality. Truly bottom of the barrel.

    If, a month ago, it had been suggested that the sitting president of the USA would run an ad that featured a sweet young woman saying she had just given up her virginity to that sitting president and advocating that all women want to, so just go ahead and do so……would have been met with laughter and derision from nearly every citizen.

    Yet, that is what has happened.

    Remember when your parents were upset because you were watching Elvis rotate his hips in a suggestive manner, and how they would say things like This Will Lead to Lowering the Morals of the Nation! and you just keep watching the TV and ignored the old folks?

    Well…….they were right……..and here we sit, in front of computer screens and watch a desperate sitting president scrape the bottom of the barrel with wild abandon trying everything under the sun to keep a job he is unfit to hold.

    If he only brought himself down with such tactics, it would not be so bad, or mean so much. But, as the miscreant is our highly visable top employee, we, as a nation, are dragged down with him.

    Shameful…….

  • Tom

    Absolutely. I review who the major papers endorse and then vote oppostite.

  • Steve the Cynic

    Linda, I’m flattered you think my comments are worth paying for, but no, no one pays me for this. And if you think propping up the private auto industry is evidence that Obama thinks private property should be abolished, you’re truly delusional. If he were a marxist, he would have pushed for nationalizing health care, instead of endorsing a system that practically guarantees profits for private insurance companies, which is what Obamacare does.

  • Linda in Plymouth

    Lets ask, demand MPR and other MN media address the real issues before the election date. But they have not so far. the AP spreads BS polls to imply racism is the issue for voters. It is always the liberal Demoralcrats that use RACE as an excuse to silence anyone who disagrees with their position on everything. The AP poll has 90% questions to ask about Obama vs Romney preferences, their own polling questions show the extreme race card attempt in their own work. Stanfod University wouldn’t even discuss their poll because it is so flawed and stupid but media like MPR/ NPR use it anyway. AP poll still calls Obama as the first black president. Who cares what his color is, he is a bi racial mulatto. His mother was white. His father was not a USA citizen, he had a UK passport and Obama refuse to release his passport records for him and his white mother..why the hiding?

    If newspapers can’t get facts out after 5 weeks from murders in Benghazi where records now show Obama knew they were attacked for 7 hours and he refused CIA operatives any help..impeach him or vote him back to his Chicago thugs that use smears to win elections. How you think Obama won senate race in Illinois? Go read , its all there_ Chicago smear campaign got his challenger to resign. Now Bill Clinton stopped fund rasier speeches for Obama after Obama blamed Hillary for Benghazi murder scandal..Impeachment is near.

  • Linda in Plymouth

    All of MPR readers and listeners SHOULD start demanding the media that endorses Obama start sharing the news on Obama’s failed policies and his out right lies about the 7 hour battle at US Consulate in Benghazi, where he knew and watched the live video feeds and then still had himself and others LIE to us. This is bigger than any Watergate and few media dare to discuss it and investigate it.

    All you liberals that love blindly the president who shreds the Constitution with EPA regulation new rules, kills millions of jobs and now lies about knowing the truth of Benghzai…YOU want a president that lies to all, not just conservatives? If you do, then go live in Venezuela, Iran, Syria or Cuba. Obama uses politics first over protecting USA citizens. The liberal media will feel the effects when Obama is out of office, because the new leaders will lead and not sit on golf course every week as Obama has done, and hey won’t give air time to MNBC or CBS or ABC_ until they get new management that isn’t scared to speak the truth. This is why Congress wants NPR defunded from tax dollars_ they are partisan and NOT PUBLIC for all media. Even MPR’s 5 most shared stories this past month has not_ included Benghazi attack and cover up..see?

  • kevins

    Linda…you are persistently annoying.

  • jockamo

    One needs to be totally unaware of the nature of things……

    Or too self-worshipping to care……….

    To be persistently annoyed by the facts……..

    Har

  • Dave

    I find it interesting that, today, MPR would interview an author of a book about the successful SEAL team operation of killing Bin Laden.

    In the discussion they spoke about the “blow back” on the President and Secretary of State if the mission went wrong, if a SEAL team member was killed.

    And yet, Kerri Miller will not ask the questions that need to be asked by SOMEONE in the media about what happened in Benghazi, and why the President did not help those SEALS save the US ambassador, Chris Stevens.

    My question is, how does the ambassador, two former SEAL heros, and another american get killed and there is no blow back?

    When will you ask the questions MPR, November 7th?

    And you wonder why people are against public radio getting tax payer money. I want my money’s worth, ask the questions about the Benghazi cover-up.