(50.2% as independents). The report noted that the fraction of Democratic journals in 2013 was the lowest since 1971, and down 8 percentage points since 2002; the trend is for more journalists to be politically non-aligned. The study also noted "The emergence of the problem of “fake news" and propaganda that is made possible by the dark underbelly of the digital age has combined with the Trump-driven hostility toward journalists to make the focus of this article even more timely." An October 2017 Pew Research report found that 62% of stories involving US Republican President Donald Trump during his first 60 days in office had a negative assessment, compared to only 5% of stories with a positive assessment. By comparison, the study found that Democratic President Barack Obama received far more favorable coverage in his first 60 days in office; 42% of stories involving Obama during that period were identified as positive, and only 20% were identified as negative. A May 2017 study from Harvard University's Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy of Trump's first 100 days in office also identified a similar negative tone in coverage. The study found that 93% of CNN and NBC coverage of President Trump during the period was negative. The survey also found 91% of CBS coverage was negative and that 87% of The New York Times coverage was negative during Trump's first 100 days. For reference, the Kennedy School reported that the Financial Times of London, was also negative in 84% of articles over the same period, and the BBC was negative 74% of the time. Even Fox News, whose stated aim is to be conservative, was more negative of Trump than positive (52% to 48%). An October 2018 Rasmussen Reports poll of 1,000 likely voters found 45% of Americans believed that when most reporters write about a congressional race, they are trying to help the Democratic candidate. Alternatively, only 11% believed that most reporters aimed to help Republican candidates. A 2020 study in Science Advances found that, although a majority of journalists identify as liberals/Democrats, there is no evidence of a liberal media bias in which stories journalists chose to cover in their reporting. A 2021 research paper published by the Tow Center for Digital Journalism found that American conservatives believe "that the American press blames, shames and ostracizes conservatives," citing media coverage of COVID-19 and Donald Trump,