Media should have taken more ‘critical approach’ to covering caravan, says pollster

Pollster Lee Miringoff on Friday said that he didn’t think the media covered the Central American migrant caravan critically enough. 

“I don’t usually say critical things of the media, but page one of the New York Times had the caravan, I think three times,” Miringoff, the head of the Marist Poll, told Hill.TV’s Jamal Simmons. 

“We certainly got a sense that there was this invasion force coming,” he continued. “This is not an invasion, but nonetheless, the media kind of fell into the Hillary [Clinton] emails [story], that was the last eight days of the campaign.” 

“Caravan from the White House, one issue again. I think there has to be a more critical approach to that,” he said. 

President Trump made the immigration, specifically the caravan of Central American migrants moving toward the southern U.S. border, a major issue for Republican voters in the run-up to the 2018 midterms.

He brought the caravan up multiple times in tweets, news conferences, and campaign rallies. 

Trump warned of an “invasion” of migrants and claimed the group contained MS-13 gang members, and at one point said there were “unknown Middle Easterners” among them.”

No evidence has emerged that MS-13 gang members or migrants from the Middle East were among members of the caravan.

— Julia Manchester


Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. hill tv