AUSTIN, Texas — Texans are lining up to cast early voting ballots. But experts say they’re probably not looking at newspaper endorsements before they do.
“I think voters don’t care much about endorsements. I think voters worry more than ever that endorsements are indicators of bias in the news,” said Kristie Bunton, the dean of the Bob Schieffer College of Communication at Texas Christian University (TCU).
Bunton said if a voter doesn’t understand that the news and editorial wings of a newspaper are separate, they might assume the papers swing left or right based on their endorsements.
“It has long been the case that voters and readers don’t understand the difference between the news coverage function and the opinion and editorial function, and I think today that distinction is blurred even further for them,” Bunton said. “If it’s done properly, an endorsement is not at all an indication of bias by the news organization. But it may confirm a reader or an audience member in his or her bias, that the news media are biased... When it’s done correctly, an endorsement is an act of reporting and information gathering, and sorting through and assessing a variety of issues that voters may not be well informed about, especially at the local level. So these judgments are often made on a very careful basis. But that doesn’t usually translate to readers who just think, ‘Oh, there we go. It’s the New York Times again endorsing Hillary Clinton. We think they’re the liberal left-leaning New York Times, so they would interview and endorse the left-leaning candidate.’”
Because of declining newspaper readership and increased polarization, some newspapers have reduced or done away with endorsements all together.
“When you have limited resources, because you have smaller numbers of subscribers, you’re going to put the resources generally into reporting, not into writing opinion and editorial,” Bunton said. “So the Des Moines Register has a huge and proud tradition of covering politics all over the state of Iowa, because Des Moines is the largest city in Iowa... And they’re proud of their editorial function for years, and it’s award-winning. They are down now, I believe, to two days a week of op-ed coverage because they need to channel other resources into regular news reporting. And so it becomes this cycle also of, do endorsements matter? Maybe, maybe not. And oh, by the way, are they just dying off? Because even though they’ve been around for 150 or so years, news organizations have got to put their resources in other areas.”
In the March primary, many of the candidates who were endorsed by some of the biggest papers in Texas didn’t make it onto the November ballot. Voters in Texas told Spectrum News they don’t pay attention to the picks.
“No, I don’t. You know, really I get almost everything online nowadays,” said Bruce Flory, a Travis County resident.
“I rely on the League of Women Voters for their guides, but I don’t look at newspaper endorsements,” said Sophie Morse, another Travis County resident.
Ahead of the November election, those same editorial boards picked mostly Democrats, except for the Dallas Morning News, which endorsed Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. But these candidates already have name recognition. Another expert says endorsements might have a bit more influence in local races where information is less available.
“I would say that newspaper endorsements are most helpful to voters in low information environments,” said Matthew Wilson, an associate professor of political science at Southern Methodist University (SMU). “Races that lack party labels they can be more influential. Races where the candidates have low name identification they can be more influential. Nonpartisan elections, like we see in a lot of municipal races, they can be more influential. I wouldn’t exaggerate their level of influence even there. But they’re likely to matter more in those contexts than they do in a highly partisan, highly polarized, high-dollar and high-identification, general election context.”
Wilson added endorsements might matter more depending on who writes them.
“The editorial board of a small town newspaper, when making an endorsement in a race for judge, probably knows those candidates well and going back aways; whereas a big newspaper in Houston or Dallas or Austin, talking about gubernatorial candidates... the level of personal connection and knowledge of that editorial board for those candidates is likely lower,” Wilson said. “So for a variety of reasons, I think people might take more seriously the small town paper endorsement in a local race than they would the big city paper making a statement about the governor’s race or the presidential race or anything like that.”
One voter carried a list of endorsements with her to the polls. She needed more information about the down-ballot races.
“It’s very helpful to see those in one place,” said Colleen Hobbs, a Travis County resident.
Another voter says he always checks out the papers, especially before primary elections.
“By the time you get to the general election, I think most voters have made their minds up,” said Brendan Steinhauser, another Travis County resident.
Bunton said voters today might even look to see who their favorite celebrity or sports figure is endorsing over their local newspaper. But she concedes that if endorsements mattered at all, Hillary Clinton would have won the 2016 presidential election against Donald Trump. She had far more newspaper endorsements that he did. But she said endorsements with a shock-factor could have some influence.
“Like, what if Mr. Trump were to run again in the next presidential election, and the New York Times suddenly decides, let’s endorse–after all of our information gathering–Donald Trump,” Bunton said. “That would get attention. That would be the endorsement that might carry some weight because it would blow people’s minds, right?”
More than 2 million Texans have voted by mail or in-person so far. Early voting goes through Nov. 4. Election Day is Nov. 8.