Pew: Fox, MSNBC Turned More Partisan Before Election

Which may be why fans watch them

Fox News and MSNBC became even more extreme in their coverage of President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney during the final days of the 2012 campaign, according to a new study out Monday.

On MSNBC, negative coverage of Romney jumped from 57 percent for most of October to 68 percent from Oct. 29 to Nov. 5, while Fox News's negative coverage of Obama increased from 47 percent to 56 percent in the last week, the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism survey found.

Meanwhile, MSNBC's positive coverage of Obama grew from 33 percent to 51 percent during that last week and Fox News's favorable Romney coverage increased from 34 percent of segments to 42 percent.