A new polling and news organization has checked out the daily battle for viewer eyeballs waged by Fox, CNN and MSNBC. Most polls we’ve seen on this topic in recent memory are in agreement with ratings statistics, and this one is no different – Fox is in the lead.
The company is called Poll Position, a new entrant into the field that is headed by two former CNN executives – Eason Jordan and Larry Register. Jeff Shusterman of Majority Opinion Research heads up the polling operations.
Fox has the biggest built-in advantage in any one demographic cell – and it will come as no surprise that it is among those calling themselves Republicans. Over six in ten picked Fox, while only six in one hundred selected MSNBC. The fact that CNN’s results among this group is more than double that of MSNBC’s still leaves it in a very distant second place.
The flip-side Democratic vote between the three networks has CNN holding a 40-30 edge over MSNBC, with only about one in ten watching Fox.
Independents prefer Fox to CNN by a relatively small margin and pretty much ignore MSNBC, giving it only high-single-digit support.
The poll provides numerous breakdowns of the three-way race – let’s go down the list.
* Total: Fox 36.1, CNN 27.8, MSNBC 16.6, no opinion 19.5
* 18-29: CNN 39.4, MSNBC 19.8, Fox 16.7, n.o. 24.1
* 30-44: Fox 39.3, CNN 21.8, MSNBC 16.9, n.o. 21.9
* 45-64: Fox 39.1, CNN 29.4, MSNBC 14.5, n.o. 17.0
* 65+: Fox 46.2, CNN 22.0, MSNBC 16.6, n.o. 15.3
* White: Fox 472.0, CNN 23.0, MSNBC 14.5, n.o. 20.5
* Black: CNN 35.6, MSNBC 21.6, Fox 18.8, n.o. 24.0
* Hispanic: CNN 45.4, MSNBC 22.6, Fox 21.2, n.o. 10.9
* Male: Fox 35.5, CNN 29.7, MSNBC 12.8, n.o. 21.9
* Female: Fox 36.7, CNN 25.9, MSNBC 20.1, n.o. 17.3
* Republican: Fox 61.9, CNN 13.1, MSNBC 6.0, n.o. 18.9
* Democrat: CNN 40.8, MSNBC 31.0, Fox 10.4, n.o. 17.9
* Independent: Fox 36.0, CNN 31.1, MSNBC 9.1, n.o. 23.9
