Race has tightened, but Clinton recovering from FBI announcement

U.S. TV & print news, January 1 – November 1, 2016

New York, November 2, 2016. Despite a significant impact from the FBI announcement regarding Clinton’s emails on October 28, her media image has begun to recover, placing her with a narrow lead in a tight contest, according to new research from Media Tenor International.

“The FBI announcement initially hit Clinton hard,” says Roland Schatz, founder and CEO of Media Tenor. “But subsequent criticism of FBI Director James Comey, as well as statements of support from politicians on both sides of the aisle, helped give Clinton an opportunity to recover. Tone was volatile throughout the weekend, but with less than a week left in the presidential contest, the media has clearly given Clinton a narrow lead. This is not dissimilar to 2000 when revelations about Bush’s relationship with alcohol triggered a dip in his media image, but was not enough to disrupt the overall positive narrative established in the debates with Gore.”

Schatz also notes that Trump has regained the edge on national security, which has been a key voter influencer in post-9/11 contests.

“Trump originally started to lose the election in the convention season,” Schatz adds. “As the shock from the FBI announcement wears off and new revelations about his own candidacy threaten to make news, Clinton’s long-term lead will be remembered, helping her maintain her edge going into election day.”

This research examined 62,768 reports on politicians on five U.S. TV news programs and in 8 opinion-leading print publications and 14,506 lines of data on presidential candidates in previous elections, 2000 – 2012.

For over 20 years Media Tenor’s mission has been to contribute to objective, diverse and newsworthy media content by bringing together the diverse parties. Media Tenor’s global research projects include analyses of election campaigns, investor relations, public diplomacy, corporate communications and other topics critical to news makers and news audiences. For more information, please contact Racheline Maltese at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or +1 212-935-0210.