HARRIS POLL: LIMBAUGH LEAST FAVORITE NEWS PERSONALITY (HANNITY CLOSE AT #4)

[gregg75]

****BUT, the results also reveal that Limbaugh and Hannity are tied for 9th and 10th on the Favorites list.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/new-harris-poll-reveals-americans-love-diane-sawyer-anderson-cooper/

Favorites
1.) Diane Sawyer 23%
Anderson Cooper 19%
Brian Williams 19%
Bill O'Reilly 15%
Barbara Walters 15%
George Stephanopoulos 14%
Matt Lauer 13%
Katie Couric 13%
Rush Limbaugh 9%
Sean Hannity 9%

11.) Rachel Maddow 7%
Nancy Grace 7%
Christiane Amanpour 7%
Greta Van Susteren 7%
Ann Curry 6%
Neil Cavuto 6%
Lester Holt 6%
Wolf Blitzer 6%
Bob Schieffer 5%
Shepard Smith 5%

21.) Chris Matthews 5%
Scott Pelley 4%
Charlie Rose 4%
Piers Morgan 3%
Joe Scarborough 2%
John King 1%
None of these 20%

Least Favorites
1.) Rush Limbaugh 46%
Bill O'Reilly 31%
Nancy Grace 23%
Sean Hannity 14%
Katie Couric 10%
Piers Morgan 10%
Barbara Walters 10%
Chris Matthews 10%
Rachel Maddow 7%
Wolf Blitzer 7%

11.) George Stephanopoulos 7%
Greta Van Susteren 6%
Diane Sawyer 5%
Matt Lauer 4%
Anderson Cooper 4%
Christiane Amanpour 4%
Joe Scarborough 3%
Charlie Rose 3%
Brian Williams 3%
Ann Curry 3%

21.) Neil Cavuto 3%
Shepard Smith 3%
John King 2%
Scott Pelley 1%
Lester Holt 1%
Bob Schieffer 1%
None of these 22%

Democrats and Independents top three
Diane Sawyer (28% and 25% respectively)
Anderson Cooper (24% and 21%)
Brian Williams (24% and 20%).

Political affiliations: O’Reilly was the favorite of Republicans (29%), while Sawyer was the favorite of Democrats (28%) and Independents (25%). Republicans dislike Nancy Grace (25%) more than any other current affairs personality, while Democrats and Independents singled out Limbaugh for their scorn (66% and 49%, respectively).

Personalities receiving 1% of the “favorite” vote from Democrats: Sean Hannity, Neil Cavuto, Shepard Smith, and Joe Scarborough. Republicans gave that designation to three personalities: Rachel Maddow, Charlie Rose, and Scarborough. POLL LINK http://www.marketwatch.com/story/di...ericas-favorite-news-personalities-2012-02-27

 

[JohnAllan]

I've often wondered why the RATINGS don't hold true to the top 10 list here. Rush and Sean are ratings leaders, but the most hated. Hmmm. Just doesn't make sense.

 

[ck dexter haven]

I've often wondered why the RATINGS don't hold true to the top 10 list here. Rush and Sean are ratings leaders, but the most hated. Hmmm. Just doesn't make sense.

It makes total sense. When you're programming talk, you want highly polarizing hosts. People who score mid-level on "love-hate" scales rarely succeed. You WANT to have hosts people don't like--the haters actually listen longer than the fans. Howard Stern experienced that in NYC in his over-the-free-airwaves days.

The result is higher ratings.

 

[kal30005]

I agree that what I read into it is that Rush and Sean have very high ratings BECAUSE they are disliked because people don't agree with their message ... but they listen!

Nancy Grace, in my opinion, is more disliked because of her personality, but again, people keep tuning in.

 

[chrish]

Many who say they hate Rush Limbaugh admit to having never listened to him....Imagine that!

 

[gregg75]

Apparently a lot were listening on March 1st when he made his CRAZY birth control comments.
One advertiser has already pulled adds from his show.

 

[the golden boy]

I've often wondered why the RATINGS don't hold true to the top 10 list here. Rush and Sean are ratings leaders, but the most hated. Hmmm. Just doesn't make sense.

It's like sports. Think about teams that are popular nationally: New York Yankees, Los Angeles Lakers, Notre Dame football. Now, think about teams that are hated the most: those same teams I just mentioned would be up there too.

 

[Bengalsfan]

I've often wondered why the RATINGS don't hold true to the top 10 list here. Rush and Sean are ratings leaders, but the most hated. Hmmm. Just doesn't make sense.

It makes total sense. When you're programming talk, you want highly polarizing hosts. People who score mid-level on "love-hate" scales rarely succeed. You WANT to have hosts people don't like--the haters actually listen longer than the fans. Howard Stern experienced that in NYC in his over-the-free-airwaves days.

The result is higher ratings.

Then Air America should have blown the doors off the Arbitron dump. Where are they now?

 

[craig_ashwood]

I've often wondered why the RATINGS don't hold true to the top 10 list here. Rush and Sean are ratings leaders, but the most hated. Hmmm. Just doesn't make sense.

It makes total sense. When you're programming talk, you want highly polarizing hosts. People who score mid-level on "love-hate" scales rarely succeed. You WANT to have hosts people don't like--the haters actually listen longer than the fans. Howard Stern experienced that in NYC in his over-the-free-airwaves days.

The result is higher ratings.

Then Air America should have blown the doors off the Arbitron dump. Where are they now?

This is an interesting thread. I'd argue that Air America didn't blow the doors off Arbitron, because they weren't personality driven. The network itself had a "mission", but name me a well-known personality who was on Air America? Other than Ed Schultz or Al Franken (who of course went on to the US Senate, so you might say his polarizing nature worked for him?)...then, they didn't have the distribution of Limbaugh or Hannity, being on just a handful of stations instead of the hundreds needed to reach critical mass. Finally, they (Air America) had the mainstream media in their pocket, with pretty much fawning coverage, when there was any coverage, from the New York Times, Wash. Post, etc. In other words, no one to call them out. It takes angry rebuttal in the media to generate controversy, and given Air America's political orientation, there was no worry about them getting anything negative thrown at them from the national mainstream media. Just my opinion.

 

[rollinnumbers]

Impressed with Rachel Maddow's 7%. Hopefully soon she will replace bloated Limbaugh's spot in the top 10.