Elections

RNC: 46 newspapers abandon 2008 Obama endorsements to support Romney

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Forty-six newspaper editorial boards that endorsed then-Senator Barack Obama in 2008 have decided instead to endorse Republican nominee Mitt Romney this year, according to a tally from the Republican National Committee.

The list of 46 includes The Des Moines Register, the Orlando Sentinel, Florida’s Sun Sentinel, the Wisconsin State Journal, the Houston Chronicle, The Tennessean, the Los Angeles Daily News, Newsday and the New York Daily News. (RELATED: Romney wins surprise endorsement from Iowa’s Des Moines Register)

“Newspapers across the country have switched their endorsements from Obama four years ago to Mitt Romney because Obama failed to bring about the change he promised,” an RNC spokesperson wrote in an email to TheDC, “and it’s Mitt Romney with the proven record and promise of real change that will move our country forward.”

The University of California Santa Barbara’s American Presidency Project has tracked the endorsements of the 100 U.S. newspapers with the highest daily circulation numbers.

The project reports that to date 41 of those top 100 papers — with a total circulation of more than 10 million — have endorsed Obama. The 34 top-100 papers endorsing Romney have a total circulation of less than 6.4 million.

According to the American Presidency Project, 12 top-100 papers that endorsed Romney this year were in Obama’s corner in 2008. (RELATED: Newspapers abandon 2008 Obama endorsements)

Just one paper, the San Antonio Express-News, switched its endorsement from the 2008 Republican nominee John McCain to Obama this year.

“No candidate has all the right policies — that includes Barack Obama,” the Express-News editorial board wrote.

“But having weathered the challenges of the last four years, we believe he is in a better position to guide the nation over the next four years — and has earned from voters the privilege to do so.”

Eighteen of the top 100 papers have made no endorsements. Two split their recommendations.

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