A substantial majority (55%) of the American journalists who followed the 1992 presidential campaign believe that George Bush’s candidacy was damaged by the way the press covered him. Only 11% feel that Gov. Bill Clinton’s campaign was harmed by the way the press covered his drive to the presidency. Moreover, one out of three journalists (36%) think that media coverage helped the Arkansan win the presidency while a mere 3% believed that the press coverage helped the Bush effort.

The American electorate feels better about itself and better about the campaign process than it did four years ago. A panel back post-mortem survey of voters conducted the weekend following the election found 77% of Americans thinking they learned enough during the campaign to make an informed choice between President George Bush, Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Independent candidate Ross Perot. Only 59% held that view in a 1988 Times Mirror survey taken days after the Bush – Dukakis contest.

Despite his slippage in some candidate standing polls in recent days, Ross Perot continues to command more voter attention than George Bush and Bill Clinton during the last full week of “Campaign 92″. At week’s end, 39% of voters said they had heard the most about Perot in the news media, 26% named Clinton, and only 22% named George Bush.

Over the course of the ten days in October that shaped the final leg of this election campaign Ross Perot has brought several issues into sharp focus that have convinced a significant number of voters that he is the candidate most capable of handling them.

Ross Perot’s surge in the polls is drawing somewhat more support from Bill Clinton than from George Bush, and the third party candidate seems poised to make more gains that might further narrow Bill Clinton’s nationwide margin.

A Times Mirror Center survey conducted October 14-18 reveals that the American electorate continues to react more negatively to George Bush’s campaign commercials than to those of each of his rivals. A majority of voters who say they have seen Bush commercials in the past week rate them poorly – 34% give them an “F” grade for presenting a convincing reason to vote for the President, and another 17% grade them a “D”. Only 5% give Bush’s paid advertising an “A” grade, and 21% give it a “B”.

Bill Clinton and Ross Perot continue to command more voter attention than George Bush. Times Mirror’s latest Air Wars Score Card finds 37% of American voters saying that in the past week they have heard the most in the media about Bill Clinton. Almost as many mention independent candidate Ross Perot (31%), while far fewer say they have heard the most about George Bush (16%) in newspapers, on tv and on the radio.

George Bush is losing the air wars to challengers Bill Clinton and Ross Perot. While the President may be getting as much media coverage and buying as much advertising as his rivals, voters this past week say they have heard most about Clinton and Perot.

Bill Clinton is in as solid a position with American voters as was George Bush four years ago at this time. The Arkansas Governor’s 53% to 38% lead over President Bush has stabilized and his support is as firm as Bush’s was in September of 1988.

The American electorate has changed its allegiances more dramatically and rapidly in recent weeks than perhaps ever before in campaign history. However, the size of the shift is so large and the commitment of voters to its recipient, Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas, is so tenuous, that voting intentions could again change dramatically in a relatively short period of time.