Legendary journalist Carl Bernstein on Tuesday called conservative website Drudge Report an “alternate universe” that helps lead “a big part of the electorate.”

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Bernstein, best known for his coverage of Watergate in the 1970s, told CNN that Matt Drudge’s website and other key players in conservative media have played a landmark role in the 2016 race.

"The alternative universe of Drudge, alt-right, the different press and social media that we have seen almost dominate to some extent a big part of the electorate is a wholly new phenomenon," explained Bernstein, 74.

In July, Bernstein called Drudge a "kingmaker" that helped power Trump’s rise to the GOP presidential nomination. Drudge regularly has averaged more than 1.5 billion page views per month in recent months.

"Drudge is really a great new factor in this election in terms of media," Bernstein said on CNN. “That site has been unapologetically in Trump's pocket from the beginning.

"And I would say a large measure of why Donald Trump is the nominee goes to Matt Drudge in much the way that Fox has — when you use the word kingmaker, I'm not sure it goes quite far that way, but it is an influence unequalled."