An example of the latter is presented in a story by Jordan Davidson at The Federalist in which he cites a study that finds media suppression of certain news stories kept many Biden voters in the dark, voters who claim that had they known of these stories they would've voted for Trump.
Since the number of Biden voters who claim they would've voted for Trump if they'd known information that the media was suppressing totaled some 17% of those who supported the Democrat candidate, it's clear that, in a counterfactual world, one where the media, were honest and objective, Trump would've won.
Here are some of the key points in Davidson's column:
The survey results report that 17 percent of Biden voters would not have voted for the Biden-Harris presidential ticket if they had known about at least one of the eight news stories that were suppressed by big tech and mainstream media outlets.This would've given Trump an electoral college win of 311 to 227.
The survey, conducted online by The Polling Company, ... asked 1,750 Biden voters living in seven swing states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) if they were aware of certain issues surrounding Biden, his family, and some of the Trump administration’s successes.
Some of these topics include former Biden staffer Tara Reade and her sexual assault allegations against Biden, the Hunter Biden scandal, VP Nominee Kamala Harris’s extreme liberal voting record in the Senate, the U.S.’s economic jump in the third quarter, millions of jobs added, America’s energy independence, Operation Warp Speed successes, and Trump’s facilitation of multiple peace deals in the Middle East.
Over a quarter of Biden voters said they didn’t know Sen. Harris had the most liberal voting record in the Senate in 2019, and nearly half of all Biden voters polled, 49 percent, said they were unaware of the U.S.’s remarkable economic recovery in the third quarter, doubling the previous record.
One in six Biden voters polled, 17 percent, said they would have changed their vote had they been aware of these stories. The report also found that without even voting for Trump and simply refusing to vote for Biden, “these voters would have handed all six of these states, and a second term, to the president if the news media had properly informed them about the two candidates.”
In Pennsylvania and Georgia, 15 percent of Biden’s voters would have refrained from casting a vote for him. In Michigan, it was 14 percent. In Arizona, it was 21 percent. In Wisconsin, it was 13 percent. And in Nevada, it was 18 percent.
The significant numbers, the report states, “would have moved every one of the swing states into Trump’s column, some by a huge margin.”
This is a condign indictment of the mainstream and social media, but although it is true that the media have behaved reprehensibly throughout Trump's four years in office, and although it may also be true that had these voters known about these stories the outcome of the election would've been different, I nevertheless have one reservation about this report.
I think it may be a bit of an overreach to conclude that had the media been more honest and professional in their reporting these voters would've known about these stories. The fact is that no matter how much the media discussed these facts it's possible that many voters would still have been oblivious to them because many people simply aren't interested in political news and don't tune in to it.
So, yes, voter ignorance very likely played a role in the outcome of the election and the media certainly played a role in keeping the voters ignorant, but whether an honest media would've been able to educate enough of those who don't take the trouble to be educated to have changed the election results is hard to ascertain.
Even so, when Donald Trump declares that large segments of the liberal media are "the enemy of the people" he has a point. Any organization entrusted by the people to disseminate information but which fails to uphold that trust is doing the country a grave disservice, even if what they do is technically legal.
Davidson has more details at the link.
