According to a Rasmussen poll out today, a plurality (46%) of likely voters want George Stephanopoulos banned from covering the 2016 presidential campaign because of the recent scandal arising out of his donations to the Clinton Foundation.
Not surprisingly the anti-Stephanopoulos vote was driven by Republicans (66%) and independents (45%). Fifty percent of Democrats think that Stephanopoulos should go ahead with coverage of the 2016 race.
Thirty-four percent (34%) of voters share a favorable opinion of Stephanopoulos. This is down from 45% in February and includes 11% with a Very Favorable opinion. Thirty-nine percent (39%) view him unfavorably, with 18% who hold a Very Unfavorable view. Twenty-seven percent (27%) don’t know enough about the senior ABC anchor to venture any kind of opinion of him
Viewers’ opinions of ABC News in general took a hit because of the scandal:
Thirty-four percent (34%) of all voters say they are less likely to believe the reporting on ABC News because Stephanopoulos failed to disclose this seeming conflict of interest. Sixteen percent (16%) say they are more likely to believe in ABC News’ reporting. Forty-two percent (42%) say the Stephanopoulos incident will have no impact on their confidence in ABC’s reporting.
Forty-one percent (41%) of Republicans are less likely now to trust ABC’s reporting, compared to 32% of Democrats and 30% of unaffiliated voters.
While the numbers are small compared with those who say it will have no affect, in the highly competitive world of network news those tiny numbers can lead to a big hit in the ratings.
In related Rasmussen news, 37% of Americans believe the average media reporter is more liberal than they are. Eighteen percent consider the average reporter more conservative than he is, and 63% think it’s likely that some actions Hillary Clinton took as secretary of state were influenced by donations made to the Clinton Foundation.
Cross-posted at The Lid
