The Polls are Closing. Who Won?

Ad Fontes Media recommends reliable sources of election information

Author:

Vanessa Otero

Date:

11/05/2024

The polls are closing throughout the nation, so now it’s time to settle in and wait for the election returns. It could be hours, days or weeks before we know who will be the next president of the United States, and in the meantime, you might be wondering where to turn for factual election information.

Our team has spent thousands of hours over the past few years rating content from websites, podcasts, TV and video, and we recommend the following as reliable sources of election information (listed in no particular order):

We also recommend these websites that focus on fact checking:

We generally recommend news sources that have been rated above 36 for reliability. The websites above are just a partial list of large sources above 36 that we put together for your convenience.

For “just-the-facts” types of information, rather than analysis and opinion, we don’t recommend cable news TV channels. However, we have found that local TV affiliates can be relied upon to provide the facts. So you can’t go wrong if you watch your local ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox affiliate, or follow the news from your community newspaper or website. In fact, these might be the only places you can find up-to-date results on local and statewide races.

If you’re looking for more than the facts, then check out CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NewsNation, and other cable news channels rated 36 and above on our Media Bias Chart®. They will provide reliable information about the election outcomes themselves, but a large proportion of the content will be focused on analysis and opinion.

Are you wondering about other news sources? You can find out the bias and reliability ratings of all 4,000 sources we’ve rated by searching for them on the free Media Bias Chart® app, available for iPhone and Android. Daily search limits apply.

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Vanessa Otero is a former patent attorney in the Denver, Colorado, area with a B.A. in English from UCLA and a J.D. from the University of Denver. She is the original creator of the Media Bias Chart (October 2016), and founded Ad Fontes Media in February of 2018 to fulfill the need revealed by the popularity of the chart — the need for a map to help people navigate the complex media landscape, and for comprehensive content analysis of media sources themselves. Vanessa regularly speaks on the topic of media bias and polarization to a variety of audiences.