Poll: CNN Viewers More Likely Than MSNBC Viewers To Vote Democratic In Midterms

A new poll from Suffolk University had some surprising results about how viewers of MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News feel heading into the 2018 midterms.

The vast majority of registered voters who most trust CNN or MSNBC said they would likely vote Democratic, 87 percent and 84 percent, respectively. Ten percent of MSNBC viewers said they would likely support the Republican in their congressional district, while only 3 percent of CNN viewers would say the same. Meanwhile, 95 percent of Fox News viewers say they would support Republicans while only 4 percent say they’ll vote Democratic.

This may raise some eyebrows since MSNBC is perceived to be more of liberal news outlet than CNN, with opinion hosts like Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell and Chris Matthews. CNN presents itself as down the middle. (RELATED: Rachel Maddow Equates Trump’s Voter Fraud Tweet To 1922 KKK Leaflets)

The sample size, however, is small. Of the 1,000 registered voters surveyed by Suffolk, 119 said they most trust CNN, 100 said MSNBC and 239 said Fox News. The rest chose PBS/NPR, broadcast channels, C-SPAN or Comedy Central.

The survey’s overall margin of error of 3 percentage points grows when breaking down its smaller subgroups.

On the question of the direction of our country, more MSNBC viewers see it going in the right direction than CNN viewers by a 7-5 margin. They do, however, tie in believing we’re heading in the wrong direction at 92 percent. Seventy-seven percent of Fox News viewers see the country heading in the right direction while 15 percent don’t.

And when it comes to which news outlet voters trust the most, 24 percent say Fox News, 16 percent say PBS/NPR, 12 percent say CNN, 10 percent say MSNBC, and 16 percent say none of them.

The poll surveyed 1,000 likely voters between Oct. 18 to Oct. 22.