TRENTON -- Is the media too obsessed with Donald Trump?

From the early stages of the Republican primary contest and beyond, Trump dominated news coverage, according to a new study.

This might be something TV news watchers and newspaper readers knew intuitively, but Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy says it's statistically so.

"Week after week, Trump got the most press attention. There was not a single week when Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, or John Kasich topped Trump's level of coverage," the study said. "During the time that Rubio was an active candidate for the Republican nomination, he got only half as much press attention as Trump. During the time they were still in the race, Cruz received roughly two-thirds the coverage afforded Trump while Kasich got only a fourth."

Researchers analyzed coverage between Jan. 1 and June 7, the end of the primary election season.

The study notes that even after Trump became the last candidate standing, and the words presumptive Republican nominee attached to his name, he still generated more news coverage than either candidate in that ongoing Democratic primary.

On the Democratic side, Clinton also benefited about a third more media attention than Sanders. But he received less than half of Trump's media time. And Clinton didn't receive even three-fourths the coverage Trump did.

"Relative to Trump, Sanders was truly a poor cousin," the researchers said.

The researchers also found that the coverage was pretty balanced in tone, more so than for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Between January 1 and June 7, the media attention he received was 49 percent positive and 51 percent negative, the researchers found. But he benefited from more positive coverage when the nomination was contested, 53 percent, than after, 39 percent.

But what do you think? Is the media too obsessed with Trump's candidacy? Vote in NJ.com's informal, unscientific poll.

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.