RealClearPolitics

In a 2001 article for Princeton Alumni Weekly, editor Rob MacKay noted that "The articles selected invariably demonstrate McIntyre and Bevan's political bent, about which they are unabashedly forthcoming." McIntyre said, "I'm not really a die-hard Republican because my interests are less on social issues, more on taxing and spending. ... But I definitely don't want the government telling me what to do with my property... Nevertheless, any political junkie—even a liberal—would enjoy our site because the topics we choose are current."[6]

In a 2003 interview with the conservative magazine Human Events, McIntyre described the philosophy behind the website as based on "freedom" and "common-sense values"; Bevan said that the website's owners shared the common conservative belief that the mainstream media was biased "against conservatives, religious conservatives, [and] Christian conservatives".[3]

In a 2004 article for Time, Patrick Stack described the website's commentary section as "right-leaning".[17]

In a 2008 interview with the Chicago Tribune, McIntyre said, "We're trying to pull together the best political stories, op-eds, news analyses, editorials out there. The proliferation of content is enormous. Part of what we're trying to do is distill it in a clear, simple way for people who don't have hours to spend searching the Net."[18] In 2008, the site's founders said their goal was to give readers "ideological diversity".[10]

In 2008, Politico executive editor Jim VandeHei has called the site "an essential stop for anyone interested in politics".[19]

In 2009, RealClearPolitics was described as a weblog "in the conservative pantheon" by Richard Davis.[20][21]

During the 2008 elections, The Wall Street Journal repeatedly referred to RealClearPolitics as "nonpartisan".[22][23] The New York Times referred to its polling practice as a "nonpartisan tally".[24]

In 2012, the Chicago Sun-Times noted that "competitors, political operatives and elected officials who regularly consult the site say they appreciate the balance of stories that Bevan, McIntyre and their staff choose."[11] BuzzFeed's top editor called their polling average "the Dow Jones of campaign coverage".[11]

The 2012–2013 edition of academic text Cengage Advantage Books: American Government and Politics Today, Brief Edition describes the site as being run by conservatives, and containing "opinion pieces from multiple media sources".[25]

In 2020, The New York Times noted that since 2017, when a large number of its straight news journalists were laid off, RealClearPolitics has had a rightward, pro-Trump turn with donations to its affiliated nonprofit increasing, with much of that from entities used by wealthy conservatives. Several journalists who talked to The New York Times in 2020 said they never felt any pressure from the site's founders to bias their stories.[12] The New York Times also said that "Real Clear became one of the most prominent platforms for elevating unverified and reckless stories about the president's political opponents, through a mix of its own content and articles from across conservative media" and that for days after the election, "Real Clear Politics gave top billing to stories that reinforced the false narrative that the president could still somehow eke out a win."[12] Some allies of Donald Trump falsely claimed that RealClearPolitics had rescinded its call of Pennsylvania for Biden; however, the website had not yet called a winner in the state.[26]

An October 2019 article in The Daily Beast reported that RealClear Media manages a Facebook page of "far-right memes and Islamophobic smears". Anand Ramanujan, chief technology officer for RealClear Media, responded that the company created the website that was affiliated with the Facebook page "as part of an effort to understand the flow of traffic from social media—particularly Facebook—to political websites."[27]

Real Clear Politics heavily promotes content by The Federalist, a conservative website which draws funding from the same pool of donor money as Real Clear Politics.[12]

In 2016, RealClearInvestigations was launched,[28] backed by foundations associated with conservative causes, such as the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation and Sarah Scaife Foundation.[29] In 2019, the site published an article by a conservative author, Paul Sperry, containing the supposed name of a U.S. intelligence officer who blew the whistle on the Trump–Ukraine scandal.[29] The article's publication came as part of a month-long effort by Trump allies on media and social media to "unmask" the whistleblower, whose identity was kept confidential by the U.S. government, in accordance with whistleblower protection (anti-retaliation) laws.[29] Most publications declined to reveal the whistleblower's identity; Tom Kuntz, editor of RealClearInvestigations, defended the site's decision to publish the article.[29]

A 2023 analysis by AllSides Media found RealClearPolitics to be "largely balanced"[30] confirming its Media Bias Rating of "center" given to RealClearPolitics in 2020 after an independent review and editorial review.[31] In its statement, AllSides noted that the site's homepage contains content "curated from across the political spectrum". In its explanation of its center rating, AllSides said that sources given a rating of "center" display a balance of articles with left and right biases, or do not show very much "predictable media bias."[31] Other media outlets also rated "center" include Forbes, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal (news sections), and The Hill.[32]