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Horse race journalism is political journalism of elections that resembles coverage of horse races because of the focus on polling data and public perception instead of candidate policy, and almost exclusive reporting on candidate differences rather than similarities. "For journalists, the horse-race metaphor provides a framework for analysis. A horse is judged not by its own absolute speed or skill, but rather by its comparison to the speed of other horses, and especially by its wins and losses."[1] Horse race journalism dominates media coverage during elections in the United States.[2]
A 2018 meta-analysis found that horse-race coverage reduces citizens' substantive knowledge of politics (such as policies or candidates' issue positions) and fosters political cynicism and alienation.[3] More recent versions of horserace coverage that produce forecasts has been shown to reduce voting in multiple studies.[4]
- ^ Broh, Anthony (Winter 1980). "Horse-Race Journalism: Reporting the Polls in the 1976 Presidential Election". The Public Opinion Quarterly. 44 (4): 514–529. doi:10.1086/268620. JSTOR 2748469.
- ^ Matthews, J. Scott; Pickup, Mark; Cutler, Fred (2012). "The Mediated Horserace: Campaign Polls and Poll Reporting". Canadian Journal of Political Science. 45 (2): 261–287. doi:10.1017/S0008423912000327. ISSN 0008-4239. JSTOR 23320971. S2CID 154689543.
- ^ Zoizner, Alon (2018). "The Consequences of Strategic News Coverage for Democracy: A Meta-Analysis". Communication Research. 48: 3–25. doi:10.1177/0093650218808691. S2CID 150271353.
- ^ Westwood, Sean; Messing, Solomon; Lelkes, Yphtach (2020). "Projecting confidence: How the probabilistic horse race confuses and demobilizes the public". Journal of Politics. 82 (4): 1530–1544. doi:10.1086/708682. S2CID 216251082.