ABC News will be hosting the second presidential debate on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at 9 p.m. ET. It will be the first time Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debate one another. So, what’s the bias of ABC News?

AllSides conducted an extensive media bias review of ABC News’ digital news in July, August, and Sept. 2024 in order to ensure our bias rating of the outlet is up to date. The reviews resulted in a final AllSides Media Bias Rating of Lean Left (-1.42) for ABC News.

Here are the methods AllSides used to review ABC for bias:

• An Editorial Review of ABC’s digital news by 6-person, multipartisan panel of people on the left, center, and right in Aug. 2024; this resulted in a Lean Left rating.
• Two Blind Bias Surveys of ABC News’ digital content by Americans across the political spectrum. In the July 2024 survey, 478 respondents rated ABC Lean Right on average; in the Aug/Sept. 2024 Blind Survey, 589 people rated ABC News Lean Left on average.
  • AllSides believes the Lean Right rating was due to the fact that the news content was pulled during the week when former President Donald Trump was shot; the focus on Trump likely made the outlet appear Lean Right to blind reviewers. More on this below.

AllSides weighted these three bias reviews to arrive at a final bias rating for ABC, Lean Left (-1.42). We weighted the July 2024 Blind Bias Survey by 15%, the Aug. 2024 Editorial Review by 60%, and the Aug./Sept. 2024 Blind Survey by 25%.

RELATED: What is Media Bias?

ABC News Rated Lean Left in Aug./Sept. 2024 Blind Bias Survey

ABC News was rated Lean Left (-2.76) in an Aug./Sept. 2024 Blind Bias Survey. A total of 589 people across the political spectrum rated the bias of ABC News in this survey.

Respondents who self-identified being on the right rated ABC News as Left on average, while respondents in the center and on the left rated the outlet as Lean Left.

On average, Democrats and Independents rated ABC News as Lean Left, while Republicans rated it as Left.

ABC News Rated Lean Left in Aug. 2024 Editorial Review

An Aug. 2024 Editorial Review by an AllSides mulitpartisan panel resulted in a rating of Lean Left (-1.51) for ABC News.

In general, reviewers across the political spectrum said ABC News showed Lean Left story choice, with stories mostly focused on Democrats. ABC also appeared “more Center than they were expecting,” with some stories very balanced. Other stories, however, didn’t expand on the Republican or conservative side of issues sufficiently. The panel also flagged Lean Left word choice, such as “unhoused people,” “noncitizens,” “gender-affirming healthcare” and “sex assigned at birth.”

Some stories about Harris policies did not include criticisms of the policies. Panelists also noted “Project 2025” appeared at the very top of the page as a key topic; the project is often used as a way to criticize Trump, so this appeared as a Lean Left focus. 

ABC News Rated Lean Right in July 2024 Blind Bias Survey

Surprisingly, ABC News was rated Lean Right (1.18) in the July 2024 Blind Bias Survey. A total of 478 respondents rated ABC. This rating differed from AllSides’ current rating of Lean Left (-2.40) at the time, and triggered the Aug. 2024 Editorial Review.

AllSides speculates this outlier response is because the survey content was collected on July 15 and 18, 2024, which were just days after the July 14 assassination attempt of Donald Trump. 

The focus on Trump likely impacted the blind reviewers’ perception of ABC. For example, here are some of the headlines respondents reviewed:

July 15: 

• Trump shooting live updates: Building where gunman was found was officer staging area

• Judge dismisses Donald Trump's classified documents case

• Biden calls to 'lower the temperature in our politics' in wake of Trump shooting

• RNC 2024 Day 1 live updates: Trump makes VP pick, passes on Rubio and Burgum

• Truth Social stock soars after shooting at rally

And July 18: 

• Trump rally gunman purportedly left message on gaming platform before shooting

• Alabama man to be executed by lethal injection

• More Americans apply for jobless benefits

• What Trump shooter did in the hours before attack

• NTSB chief: People underestimate marijuana impact

This survey triggered the Aug. Editorial Review, which rated ABC News as Lean Left. The Lean Right rating was incorporated into the final rating for ABC News, but was weighted less to account for outlier conditions. 

Respondents on the left rated ABC News as Lean Right, on average, while respondents on the right and in the center rated it as Center, and on the right side. On average, Democrats rated ABC News as Lean Right while Independents and Republicans rated the outlet as Center, and on the right side.

Final Bias Rating for ABC News

AllSides’ final bias rating for ABC News, following these extensive reviews, is Lean Left (-1.42).

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