Former Vice President Joe Biden is targeted for more criticism from Russian propaganda sites than any other Democratic presidential candidate, while Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, gets the most favorable coverage, according to a study by the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
The study's findings were detailed in a report by NBC News on Tuesday.
Biden received 3% favorable mentions and 53% unfavorable ones in stories put out by Sputnik and RT. Gabbard was the subject of 46% favorable mentions and 44% unfavorable. She was the only candidate among the Democratic hopefuls who received more favorable than unfavorable mentions.
"When I watched Russian state-sponsored content and social media trolling headed into election 2016, it was overwhelmingly negative toward Hillary Clinton," said Clint Watts, a former FBI agent who led the study. "The same could be said today of former Vice President Biden.
"RT and Sputnik content in total volume is exceptionally higher for Vice President Biden, more so than normal U.S. election coverage."
The study analyzed 1,711 Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik News articles from Jan. 1 to Nov. 10, 2019 that dealt with the upcoming presidential election, according to NBC News.
"Gabbard is saying everything Russia wants Americans to hear," Watts said. "She's a U.S. Army officer, and combat veteran claiming — incorrectly — that the U.S. backs al Qaeda."
Gabbard spokesman Mark Bergman told NBC News: "The warmongering foreign policy establishment in the media has been using this same smear since the day Congresswoman Gabbard announced her candidacy. This is nothing new."
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