RealClearPolitics

AllSides provides separate bias ratings for RealClearPolitics' news aggregator and original content.

• RCP's Original Content Rated Lean Right in Feb. 2025 Editorial Review

RCP’s Original Content Rated Lean Right in Feb. 2025 Editorial Review

In Feb. 2025, AllSides conducted an Editorial Review of RealClearPolitics’ (RCP) original content and news aggregator. The six-person panel assigned a Lean Right (1.45) rating to RCP’s original content.

Reviewers across the political spectrum noted that while RCP’s original content is clearly labeled as “commentary,” it exhibited multiple forms of bias, including slant, word choice, sensationalism, and opinion statements presented as fact, often aligning with right-leaning perspectives.

A Center reviewer observed that RCP’s original content featured more right-leaning perspectives than left-leaning ones, highlighting multiple articles that were supportive of President Donald Trump while critical of Democrats. Similarly, a Right reviewer described RCP’s original content as providing "critical analysis from a more moderate, yet conservative, perspective," noting that its articles often framed topics in a manner that appealed to right-leaning audiences —such as skepticism toward gender transition treatments and critiques of “wokeness.” A Left reviewer stated that RCP’s original content generally displayed a pro-Israel bias, as its coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict frequently favored pro-Israel narratives while offering limited representation of alternative viewpoints. 

Articles reviewed included but were not limited to:

• America’s TikTok Ban Is a Threat to Free Speech | RealClearPolitics

• Pro-Life Movement A Major Player In Key Criminal Justice Issue | RealClearPolitics

• The Intersection of Religious Freedom and Immigration Enforcement | RealClearPolitics

• Voter Rolls Like They Oughta Be | RealClearPolitics

• What About Building That Gaza Riviera? | RealClearPolitics

• Are DOGE Dividend Checks Coming? | RealClearPolitics

• Trump Admin Serious About Combatting Global Censorship | RealClearPolitics

RealClearPolitics was founded in 2000 in Chicago by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. The site includes political news, op-eds, and commentary. It also publishes aggregation of polling data during election seasons. According to its About page,

"At RealClearPolitics (RCP) we’re dedicated to providing our readers with better, more insightful analysis of the most important news and policy issues of the day. RCP’s daily editorial curation and original reporting present balanced, non-partisan analysis that empowers our readers to stay informed."

Third-Party Claims of Bias

During the 2008 United States presidential election, The Wall Street Journal referred to RealClearPolitics as "nonpartisan" multiple times. The New York Times referred to its polling as a "nonpartisan tally." An October 2019 article in The Daily Beast claimed Real Clear Media managed a Facebook page of "far-right memes and Islamophobic smears" called "Conservative Country." Anand Ramanujan, RealClear CTO, said the company created a website, ConservativeCountry.net, 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."

Philosophy and Bias of RealClear Founders

Site founder John McIntyre has 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." 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". In a 2003 interview with the conservative magazine Human Events, McIntyre reportedly described the philosophy behind the website as being based on "freedom" and "common-sense values." Founder Tom Bevan also said: "We think debate on the issues is a very important thing. We post a variety of opinions ... we have a frustration all conservatives have ... the bias in media against conservatives, religious conservatives, [and] Christian conservatives".

RealClearPolitics was founded in 2000 by Tom Bevan and John McIntyre. They are a part of the RealClear brand that includes 14 other websites. In 2007, Forbes Media took a 51% equity stake in RealClear Holdings. In 2015, Crest Media, which owns the Middle East news outlet Al-Monitor, and the original owners bought out a large equity stake that had been possessed by Forbes Media. Crest Media was founded by the president and chairman of Crest Investment Company Jamal Daniel.

DonorsTrust, an American nonprofit donor-advised fund, gave $4,150,000 to the Real Clear Foundation for general operations in 2024, per its 2024 IRS tax filing. It gave an additional $11,000 to the Real Clear Media Fund. The Real Clear Foundation funds some of RealClearPolitics. According to DonorsTrust's website, "We – and the conservative- and libertarian-minded donors with whom we work – believe in preserving the ideals of limited government, personal responsibility, and free enterprise." [Retrieved Dec. 16, 2025 12:41pm ET]

Financing and ownership information last updated December 18, 2025