Conservative Talk Radio Informs GOP Presidential Race in New Way
23rd November 2015
Well, it may be new to the Wall Street Journal, but it’s not new to those of us who have been paying attention. Talk radio has been a force in politics since the Reagan years.
A decade ago, Republicans touted conservative talk radio as a foolproof medium to communicate directly with their most ardent supporters. Democrats and liberal groups tried to replicate that success by building their own left-leaning television and radio stations, with far less success.
That’s because (a) a neoliberal on the radio isn’t entertaining; poster child here is AlGore; (b) the Left can get all the ‘talk radio’ they want from tuning in the Drive-By Media — they don’t need a special format in broadcasting. I guess Patrick O’Connor at the Wall Street Journal just arrived in America from Not Around Here.
Now, the tables have turned. Republican leaders in Washington are under siege from their own activists, in part, because conservative radio hosts are almost as likely to rail against the party brass in Congress as they are to lament Mr. Obama’s failings in the Oval Office.
Is this a great country or what?
Republican presidential contenders would be unwise to write off this bloc; roughly a third of Republican primary voters strongly identify with conservative talk radio, about 10 percentage points higher than the share of GOP primary voters who consider themselves moderate or liberal, according to the survey conducted by the Democrats at Hart Research Associates and the Republicans at Public Opinion Research.
Of course, Republican presidential contenders are unlikely to do so — because they, unlike Patrick O’Connor of the Wall Street Journal, happen to keep up on what is going on in their party.
November 24th, 2015 at 02:57
Liberal talk show fail because they are nothing more than whining sessions. Rachel MadCow, for example, is that chick that ruins any party she shows up to.
Conservative talk shows are popular because there is a huge audience that feels isolated by the mainstream media and it’s leftist agenda. People feel good knowing that they are not alone in feeling that the world doesn’t revolve around Bruce Jenner getting his genitalia whacked off.
Conservative talk is also popular because it is (at least relatively) honest. Conservatives proudly tell the audience that they are conservative and this is their view of the world. The MSM folks try to sell the idea that they are unbiased and fair when it’s painfully obvious that they are leftists.