USA Today Will Not Endorse Trump or Harris, Joining Washington Post and LA Times

Sections of a USA Today newspaper in Norwood, Mass., on Aug. 5, 2019. Steven Senne/AP Photo

USA Today, along with several hundred other publications under the Gannett-controlled USA Today Network, will not endorse a candidate in this year’s presidential election, with a spokesperson saying that the paper will focus on providing facts so readers can make up their own minds who to vote for.

Lark-Marie Anton, USA Today spokesperson, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that the newspaper will not endorse in presidential or national races, with the move marking a departure from the 2020 election cycle, in which the publication backed President Joe Biden.

In 2016, USA Today took sides in the presidential race for the first time since its founding in 1982, urging readers not to vote for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump but stopping short of endorsing rival Hillary Clinton, citing “serious reservations” about her suitability for the role of commander-in-chief.

Besides USA Today, the more than 200 other outlets under the USA Today Network—like the Arizona Republic and the Detroit Free Press—will likewise not make presidential or national endorsements, though local editors might still back candidates in other races.

“While USA TODAY will not endorse for president, local editors at publications across the USA TODAY Network have the discretion to endorse at a state or local level,” Anton said. “Many have decided not to endorse individual candidates, but rather, endorse key local and state issues on the ballot that impact the community.

“Why are we doing this? Because we believe America’s future is decided locally–one race at a time.

“And with more than 200 publications across the nation, our public service is to provide readers with the facts that matter and the trusted information they need to make informed decisions.”

With the move, USA Today and its constellation of affiliated publications join The Washington Post and L.A. Times, which have both declined to throw their weight behind either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race.

L.A. Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong said that, instead of endorsing a particular candidate, the paper’s editorial board was asked to provide a factual analysis of Harris’s and Trump’s respective policies.

“With this clear and non-partisan information side-by-side, our readers could decide who would be worthy of being President for the next four years,” Soon-Shiong wrote in an X post on Oct. 23.

Soon-Shiong added that the editorial board refused and instead “chose to remain silent and I accepted their decision.”

In the case of The Washington Post, the decision not to back either candidate was initially explained by the paper’s publisher and CEO, William Lewis, who indicated in an Oct. 25 op-ed that the publication was returning to its tradition of not endorsing presidential candidates.

Lewis wrote that he hoped the decision would be seen as a “statement in support of our readers’ ability to make up their own minds on this, the most consequential of American decisions—whom to vote for as the next president.”

The Washington Post faced backlash for its decision not to endorse either candidate, with several staffers resigning over the move.

Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, wrote in an Oct. 28 op-ed that the American public’s distrust of media is fueled by perceptions of bias and that “what presidential endorsements actually do is create” such perceptions. He added that ending endorsements is a “principled decision, and it’s the right one.”