MSNBC Is Biased Against Bernie Sanders, Analysis Claims
MSNBC is biased against Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, according to a new analysis from Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR).
The media watchdog group claims in its report that the liberal network is skewing polls and misleading viewers, and making false claims about the White House hopeful.
On multiple occasions, MSNBC has broadcast graphics which did not reflect polling results. During a July 7 segment, for instance, the network showed a graphic of head-to-head match ups of Democratic presidential candidates against Trump, listing the White House hopefuls in a descending order, per polling results. Sanders’ name was placed under Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren’s, despite the fact that he had polled better than both of them.
On July 15, host Steve Kornacki made a similar “gaffe,” placing Sanders’ below Warren while reporting on a Washington Post/NBC poll, although Sanders had actually polled higher than Warren.
“Elizabeth Warren, she’s been running second place, she is running second place on the Democratic side. She leads Trump by five points,” Kornacki said during the segment, although Sanders had actually been at second place, leading Trump by seven points.
In May, Meet the Press host Chuck Todd showed a graphic suggesting that Sanders had gone down five points in the polls. The Vermont senator had actually gone up five points.
MSNBC viewers are less likely to have a favorable opinion of Bernie Sanders than Fox viewers. That’s because for the last 3 years, MSNBC, acting as the media arm of the Dem establishment, has been trying to poison the well. https://t.co/RKmxhOV8up
— Walker Bragman (@WalkerBragman) July 25, 2019
Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle have made similar mistakes. In April, the hosts showed a graphic meant to reflect the results of a Monmouth University poll. MSNBC added three points to Joe Biden, claiming that he is polling at 28 percent among non-white voters. The former vice president was actually polling at 25 percent, and Sanders was at the No. 1 spot, polling at 27 percent.
The liberal network has also made false and misleading claims about the Vermont senator.
“I clocked it. He [Sanders] did not mention race or gender until 23 minutes into the speech,” panelist and MSNBC political analyst Zerlina Maxwell said, spreading false information about a Sanders’ campaign speech, although he had started talking about race and gender five minutes after taking the stage.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has topped Democrats' list of most-liked 2020 candidates, according to new surveyhttps://t.co/ysoEcWgd5l
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) July 21, 2019
Most recently, MSNBC legal analyst Mimi Rocah came under fire for saying on air that Sanders “made [her] skin crawl,” while admitting however that she “can’t even identify for you what exactly it is.”
The Sanders campaign took note of MSNBC’s reporting. In a video released earlier this week, the campaign debunked the false claims made by Rocah.
"Bernie was fighting for a woman's right to choose before I was born."
"Lifting the floor to a living wage would help millions of women."
"He's on our side and always has been."
Hear why these women are with our campaign. pic.twitter.com/ahuLvN0BfW
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 26, 2019
“The hostility is so entrenched, in fact, it seems to have corrupted MSNBC’s mathematical reasoning and created a new system of arithmetic. The cable news network has repeatedly made on-air and online mistakes about Sanders’ polling and other numbers — always to his detriment, and never with any official correction,” FAIR concluded in its analysis.
