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Newspaper endorsements in the United States presidential election, 2016


Various notable newspapers made endorsements of candidates in the 2016 United States presidential election, as follows. Tables below indicate which candidate each publication endorsed in the United States presidential election, 2012 (where known) and include only endorsements for the general election. Primary endorsements are separately listed at newspaper endorsements in the United States presidential primaries, 2016.

Media journalist Jim Rutenberg writes that endorsements in the 2016 presidential election are distinguished by "blunt condemnation" of the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and by a "save the Republic" tone. Reasons cited by editorial boards for refusing to endorse Trump included his lack of experience in government at any level, as well as, among other reasons, editors' belief that Trump was profoundly ignorant of most areas of public policy, lacked character traits considered desirable in a US president, and took a cavalier attitude towards civil liberties, including, but not limited to, freedom of speech and of the press.

Trump received endorsements from only 20 daily newspapers and six weekly newspapers nationwide, of which only two, the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union, had circulations of above 100,000. The small number of endorsements received by Trump was unprecedented in American history for a candidate from a major party.

Among the United States' 100 largest newspapers by paid circulation, 57 endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, while only two, the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Florida Times-Union, endorsed Trump. Four (the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit News, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and the Charleston (South Carolina) Post and Courier) endorsed Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, while three other newspapers (USA Today, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) specifically discouraged their readers from voting for Trump. Clinton won support from not only traditionally Democratic-leaning newspapers, but also traditionally non-political and conservative newspapers, including those which had "either never before supported a Democrat or had not in many decades ... or had never endorsed any presidential candidate, like USA Today." The endorsements by a handful of newspapers of third party candidates, including independent candidate Evan McMullin as well as Johnson, broke from the usual practice of newspaper editorial boards endorsing a candidate from one of the two major parties.


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