A study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism found that MSNBC's coverage of Mitt Romney during the final week of the 2012 presidential campaign (68 percent negative with no positive stories in the sample) was far more negative than the overall press, and even more negative than it had been during October 1 to 28, when 5 percent was positive and 57 percent was negative. On the other hand, their coverage of Barack Obama improved in the final week before the presidential election. From October 1 to 28, 33 percent of stories were positive and 13 percent negative. During the campaign's final week, 51 percent of MSNBC's stories were positive while there were no negative stories at all about Obama in the sample.