Rush+Limbaugh's+influence+on+the+masses

Recently new media has appeared but it doesn’t maintain the same unbiased opinions of the old media. Because of this, jockeys like Rush Limbaugh have created resounding support for certain political parties, which would never have happened in the past. People now want to construct reasons for political events they attend, so the look for new sources for the answer. This study shows the influential relationship between Limbaugh and his listeners. Limbaugh uses entertainment to purvey a political opinion. This also follows the 2-step flow of communication. A study shows that listeners of Rush Limbaugh tend to vote republican. Since the fairness doctrine has been repealed, Rush does not have to have anyone stating an opinion different from his. Through a 3-year analysis of his show, the authors concluded that Rush has more conservative beliefs and tends to strike down liberal politicians like Ross Perot. The authors did another study in which they concluded by stating that they can predict someone’s political preference based on whether they listen to Rush or not. There was another study done where they monitored Rush Limbaugh listener’s opinions of Bill Clinton over a few years. They found that over time the average opinions of the people became more and more filled with fear or hate. They also did the same test with policies like government spending and discovered that the same trend happened, as more and more people were against government spending of anything that didn’t have defense in the title. In conclusion, when Rush Limbaugh is against something, the majority of his listeners wind being against it too.

Barker, D., & Knight, K. (2000). POLITICAL TALK RADIO AND PUBLIC OPINION. (Cover story). //Public Opinion Quarterly//, 64(2), 149-170. Retrieved from EBSCO//host//.

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