Do political endorsements carry much weight with voters?

DE PERE, Wis. (WFRV) - Editorial boards at newspapers across the country are throwing support to candidates ahead of the November 6th elections.

"It's something that's been going on for decades and decades," Charley Jacobs, Political Science Professor at St. Norbert College said.

Barack Obama has nabbed nods from papers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, while Mitt Romney is being backed by The New York Post and The Boston Herald.

Locally, The Green Bay Press Gazette is going with Mitt Romney for president and Tammy Baldwin for U.S. Senate.

But do voters buy in?

"I'll look at it and see what they think but the ultimate decision is just what I want," Jack Roets said.

"I'm probably not going to base it off of other people's views," Grace Gabower said. "I'll just base it off what I think I like in a candidate."

Jacobs said newspaper endorsements serve as a public service. The media often knows more about the candidates platforms than the average voter. However, he said, they make the most impact when they're unexpected.

"If the media outlet does the typical, generally speaking, they ignore the endorsement," explained Jacobs. "But if it seems like they're going out of character and they're endorsing someone they likely wouldn't, then the public pays attention and reads more critically into the endorsement to see whether or not there's something they should know about the candidate that might change their vote." 

To see which candidates other national newspapers are endorsing, click here.