Cable News and Presidential Approval

We often talk about conservative Democrats, moderate Republicans, etc. when discussing North Carolina politics. But our poll last week suggested that we might be able to just skip all those labels and understand voters better by what cable news channel they like to watch.

Consider this: Barack Obama's approval rating with Republicans who watch Fox News is 5%. But with CNN watching GOP voters it's 33%. We'd tell you what it is with MSNBC watching Republicans but, well, there really aren't any.

It's a similar story with Democrats. CNN Democrats give the President an 87% approval rating and 83% of MSNBC ones think he's doing a good job. But with Fox News Democrats only 56% approve of his job performance. That's more or less the group of voters he's seen the greatest decline in support from since the spring, which has resulted in his approval numbers declining.

And while independents are generally thought of as some sort of monolithic group, there's a very distinct difference between CNN independents and Fox News independents. CNN watching ones give Obama a 64% approval rating...but those who prefer Fox News only support him at a 12% clip.

Overall North Carolina is a Fox News watching state, with 49% of voters saying that's the main cable news network they watch. 31% prefer CNN and MSNBC is in a distant third at 13%. Even among liberals CNN outpaces MSNBC 55-26.

These numbers serve to pretty much confirm all stereotypes about what people like what cable networks!