By Lucas Shaw
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The ratings have long
demonstrated that Fox News is the most popular cable news
network, but a new national poll suggests that Americans think
it is also the best.
In a telephone survey conducted by Poll Position, a newly
launched non-partisan polling site, 36.1 percent of respondents
chose Fox as the "best," compared to 27.8 percent for CNN and
16.6 percent for MSNBC. Nearly 20 percent -- 19.5 percent --
had no opinion.
Fox is consistently one of the top five shows in all of
cable while its rivals usually sit somewhere outside the top
20.
This latest poll also confirms many widely held notions
about the three networks' fan bases.
FNC's viewership skews Republican, white and older. 62
percent of respondents who identified themselves as Republican
chose Fox as the best, as did 42 percent of whites and 46
percent of those past the age of 65. Fox was tops in every age
group except those under the age of 30.
Meanwhile, both CNN and MSNBC skew Democrat, young and
ethnically diverse.
Among those identifying themselves as Democrats, 40.8
percent chose CNN as the best and 31 percent chose MSNBC. CNN
was also the preferred choice of 35.6 percent of blacks, 45.4
percent of Hispanics and 39.4 percent of respondents between 18
and 29 years of age.
MSNBC was not voted the best by any particular category,
but it registered north of 20 percent among Blacks, Latinos,
"Other" and females (not to mention Democrats).
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