Gallup: Trust In Media Near Record Low

Gallup Poll

Trust among Americans in media organizations to report the news fairly and accurately has barely rebounded from its record low during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to The Hill citing a new study from leading polling firm Gallup.

Just 34 percent of Americans indicated they believe major news organizations will report “fully, accurately and fairly” on current events, Gallup found, just 2 points higher than in 2016, the lowest percentage ever recorded.

An even greater percentage of Americans, 38 percent, said they have no trust at all in newspapers, television and radio outlets to report the news fairly and accurately, while 27 percent indicated they have some trust in the media and just 7 percent expressed “a great deal” of trust.

Gallup again this year reported a double-digit gap between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to trust in the mainstream media, with 70 percent of Democrats and just 14 percent of GOP members saying they have a great deal of trust in the press.

This is the third straight year a majority of Republicans indicated a general distrust of media organizations, Gallup noted, reporting the margin jumped 10 percentage points in 2020 and has remained around at least 60 percent since.

Several Republican candidates for local, statewide and national offices have made attacking the press a hallmark of their messaging and fundraising strategy in recent years. Leading Democrats have at the same time warned against what they have said is a powerful conservative media ecosystem making it harder to get their ideas across to voters.

The Gallup poll was conducted Sept. 1-16 among 812 adults. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.