Politico has an interesting article up in which it notes the findings of recent Pew study showing the media coverage of McCain over the last six weeks or so was mostly negative. Obama’s coverage on the other hand was slightly positive in total. They also analyze the coverage of the VP candidates, noting Biden’s coverage was almost as poor as McCain’s.
While they do tie much of the coverage of McCain to his own actions, the study makes an interesting connection between the results of the many opinion polls and the media coverage, noticing a corresponding relationship. The question is though, did the polls influence the coverage, or did the coverage influence the polls?