Obama’s VoiceShare Has Been Rising Steadily Since Late February
Chart shows the VoiceShare percentage of statements by Obama and Romney from January 2-May 1.
In the final weeks of February and in early March, Obama’s VoiceShare was just pushing 10%. However, his VoiceShare has steadily increased since that point and last week he reached 34%, only 9% less than Romney.
So what happened in late February that caused the media to focus more on Obama? The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism’s report on “How the Media Covered the 2012 Primary Campaign”, claims that after Romney’s victory in Michigan on February 28, “he emerged as the conclusive winner in the media narrative” because his coverage became much more positive. 4thEstate NewsPoll data shows that Obama’s increase in VoiceShare after that point is another indicator that after Romney’s victory, he was seen as the presumptive nominee and the discourse shifted from Romney-Santorum to Romney-Obama.
