Originally published at: MEDIA MELTDOWN: Just 13% of Americans Trust Media ‘A Great Deal,’ 28% ‘Fair Amount’ | Sean Hannity
A new poll published this week by Gallup shows fewer Americans trust the mainstream media for unbiased and accurate information, particularly Republican voters and conservatives across the country.
“Americans remain largely mistrustful of the mass media as 41% currently have ‘a great deal’ or ‘fair amount’ of trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news ‘fully, accurately and fairly.’ This latest reading represents a four-percentage-point dip since last year and marks the end of improvements in back-to-back years after hitting an all-time low,” says the survey.
“Gallup first measured trust in the mass media in a 1972 survey when 68% of Americans said they trusted it. Similar levels were recorded in 1974 (69%) and 1976 (72%), but two decades later, when Gallup next asked the question, trust had fallen to 53%,” writes Gallup.
“Republicans became increasingly mistrustful of the media in 2016 when Trump was campaigning for president and was sharply critical of the media’s coverage of him. Between 2015 and 2016, Republican trust in the mass media fell 18 points to its historical low of 14%, where it remained in 2017. Following a seven-point boost last year, it has returned to 15%. For their part, Democrats have consistently been more trusting of the media than Republicans but rallied around the press and became even more trusting when Trump took office in 2017,” adds the report.
Read the full poll here.
