A new Axios study shows that Andrew Yang and Tulsi Gabbard are receiving minimal media coverage for their relatively successful presidential campaigns. According to the study, Yang is currently polling at 2.5 percent as the sixth-highest-polling Democratic presidential nominee, and Gabbard is polling at 1.4 percent as the ninth highest.
During the Democratic debates, Yang was tweeted about 295,200,000 times. He was the fourth most tweeted about candidate. He even surpassed Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, who are polling higher than he.
Gabbard was tweeted about 191,600,000 times during the Democratic debates, placing her in seventh overall. In the national polls, however, Gabbard falls behind Beto O’Rourke and Cory Booker.
Despite being top 10 candidates in polling and Twitter impressions, this study shows the media are treating Yang and Gabbard as bottom-tier candidates.
Out of the 19 candidates in this study, the amount of online media coverage Yang has received ranks 14th. Although he is polling slightly below Buttigieg, Yang has had approximately 7,000 fewer articles written about him.
Yang has also yet to hit 1,000 cable news mentions. The amount of cable news time Yang has received ranks 13th of the 19 candidates in the study.
Gabbard’s number are similar to Yang’s: she ranks 13th in online media coverage and 14th in cable news mentions.
“The discrepancy between demonstrated voter support and the level of media coverage — both on cable and in the online world — shows that the press is in unfamiliar territory in covering a candidate from outside the political world who keeps a low profile,” the Axios study said.
The Axios study also reports that while Yang and Gabbard have received under-indexed media coverage, Beto O’Rourke and Bill de Blasio have benefited from outsized coverage compared to their polling support. According to the study, de Blasio polls at a measly 0.5 percent, yet he has 12,800 articles written about him and is the tenth-most talked about candidate on cable news.
Despite being left out from mainstream news coverage, Yang and Gabbard have garnered grassroots support and used long-form interviews and social media to close the gap. While Gabbard will not appear on the third round of Democratic debates on September 12, Yang will. Gabbard could appear on the fourth debate stage.
