Exclusive MRC POLL: Most Dem Voters Don't Know About Kamala Harris' Radicalism

Rich Noyes : Aug 14, 2024
Newsbusters.org

In fact, a detailed Media Research Center examination of ABC, CBS and NBC evening news coverage in the three weeks since Harris became the leading Democratic candidate (July 21 to August 10) shows eight of these ten issues received ZERO attention from these newscasts, while two others received only minor coverage.

[Newsbusters.org] A significant new Media Research Center poll finds that large majorities of registered Democrats and Independents who voted for Joe Biden in 2020—exactly those who would be expected to support ...Kamala Harris in this year's contest—are mostly in the dark about many of the controversial and radical positions Harris has taken. (Screengrab image: via MRC NewsBusters)

When asked about ten different aspects of Harris' public record—on issues as varied as her sponsorship of the Green New Deal, abolishing ICE, and eliminating private health insurance—between 71% and 86% of these Democrats and Independents said they either had not heard of Harris' position or were unsure.

When these voters were asked about where they got most of their news about political elections and candidates, by far the top answers were broadcast television (ABC, CBS and NBC) or cable news (such as CNN and MSNBC). This suggests that the knowledge gaps found by our poll reveal a failure of these outlets to report on radical positions once (and perhaps currently) supported by the now-Democratic nominee for President.

In fact, a detailed Media Research Center examination of ABC, CBS and NBC evening news coverage in the three weeks since Harris became the leading Democratic candidate (July 21 to August 10) shows eight of these ten issues received ZERO attention from these newscasts, while two others received only minor coverage.

This poll was conducted for the Media Research Center by McLaughlin & Associates between August 2 and August 5. The survey consisted of 1,200 people—800 registered Democrats plus 400 Independents who reported voting for Joe Biden in 2020. Each was asked about where they typically received their political news, as well as their familiarity with a list of left-wing positions taken by Harris.

Each voter reported their top two sources for election news. Just over half (50.2%) listed broadcast television as a main source of news, followed by cable news (41.2%), social media (34.4%), online news sites (23.9%), and search engines (16.7%). A smaller number of respondents listed national newspapers (10.8%), public broadcasting (9.2%), local newspapers (7.6%), radio (4.9%) and AI chatbots (1.0%) as a main source of political information. (Image credit: MRC NewsBusters)

But when it came to recalling Harris' radical record, most of these voters said they were in the dark. Details on media coverage and voter awareness of each of the ten issues we probed: 

â–  Harris supported cutting funding for the police: Back in June 2020, before she was selected as Biden's running mate, Harris told a Los Angeles radio show host that she favored cutting police funding. According to ABC News, Harris "told Power 106 Los Angeles host Nick Cannon that she believes ‘we have to redirect resources' from police to other areas of government, mentioning schools and small businesses."

"For too long, people have confused achieving public safety with putting more cops on the street," Harris said in the same interview.

But those watching the ABC, CBS or NBC evening newscasts for information about Harris'positions have heard nothing about this since the Vice President became the likely Democratic nominee on July 21. And, our poll found, 71% of Democrats and Biden-supporting Independents were unaware or not sure that Harris had ever advocated cutting police funding. 

â–  Harris co-sponsored the Green New Deal: As a Senator in 2019, Harris was one of the original co-sponsors of the "Green New Deal," a laundry list of left-wing aspirations focused on the environment and social justice. An economics writer at the time calculated the costs at up to $2.5 trillion a year, a massive expansion of federal spending.

Another economist, The Heritage Foundation's Nicolas Loris, wrote in 2019 that, if enacted, the Green New Deal would by 2040 cost more than 1.4 million jobs, lead to more than $40,000 in lost income for a typical family of four, and a loss of nearly $4 trillion in U.S. GDP.

Yet since her latest run for the presidency began on July 21, the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts haven't said a word about Harris' push for the costly Green New Deal. And nearly three-fourths of the Democrats and Independents we polled (73%) were unaware or unsure of Harris' position.

â–  Harris supported the elimination of private health insurance: During her first presidential campaign, Harris advocated a fully government-controlled health insurance program, nicknamed "Medicare for All." And at a June 2019 candidate debate, she raised her hand when moderator Lester Holt asked the Democrats: "Who here would abolish their private health insurance in favor of a government-run plan?"

Harris later backtracked, telling CBS This Morning the next day that she misheard the question as about "giving up" private insurance rather than "abolishing" it. Harris insisted: "I am in support of Medicare for All," which would apparently only permit private plans that follow existing Medicare (i.e., government) standards.

A Heritage Foundation paper from 2019 found plans such as "Medicare for All" would leave nearly three-fourths of Americans (73.5%) worse off financially.

Such a radical plan would certainly be worth discussing, but so far ABC, CBS and NBC have been silent about whether Harris would push for such a program if elected. And most of the Democrats and Independents we surveyed (81%) were in the dark about Harris' past advocacy for Medicare for All, saying they were either unaware or unsure of her position.

â–  Harris supported reparations payments to atone for slavery: During her 2019 campaign, Harris joined with other far-left Democratic candidates to support massive payments as a form of "reparations" to the descendants of those enslaved prior to 1865. According to a PBS account, "Harris has proposed monthly payments to qualified citizens of any race in the form of a tax credit."

While there are various proposals for possible reparations, a CNBC report in 2020 suggested an ultimate price tag of $10 to $12 trillion, or vastly more than the size of the current US federal government budget (on track to surpass $6 trillion in 2024).

Since July 21, the Big Three evening newscasts haven't said a word about Harris' past support for reparations. And according to our poll, 71% of the Democrats and Independents we polled were unsure or completely unaware of her position on the issue. 

â–  As "Border Czar," Harris never visited a conflict zone on the border: Back on March 24, 2021, President Biden announced he was tapping Harris to "lead our efforts....in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border." Yet since then, Harris has only visited the border once, and chose not to go to the Rio Grande Valley, the epicenter of the crisis.

Since then, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have reported approximately 8 million border encounters in the Southwest region, revealing the extent to which Harris has failed at her assignment of "stemming the migration." And her failure to visit the areas hardest hit by the crisis demonstrates a lack of interest in understanding and solving the problem.

Since July 21, the evening newscasts have spent 7 minutes, 46 seconds on the candidates' positions on immigration, but only 44 seconds on Harris' failure to visit the border. The only coverage: NBC Nightly News (twice, on both July 21 and July 22) showed clips of Harris lying to anchor Lester Holt in a 2021 interview: "We've been to the border. We've been to the border." 

Holt immediately fact-checked the Vice President: "You haven't been to the border."

Flummoxed, Harris argued: "And I haven't been to Europe...I don't understand the point that you're making."

Apart from that, the network evening newscasts have said nothing about Harris' failure to visit the worst areas on the southern border. So it's no surprise that nearly three-fourths (72%) of Democratic and Biden-supporting Independent voters were unaware or unsure of this fact about Harris' tenure as Biden's "Border Czar"... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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