YouGov's latest 2025 poll surveyed Americans on their use and trust in 52 news sources, revisiting questions from similar surveys in 2022, 2023, and 2024. The results highlight American perspectives on news media and specific outlets, including views from those who haven't recently consumed news from them. Outlets with higher usage or stronger opinions tend to rank at the extremes of trust charts.
Most and Least Trusted News Sources
YouGov asked respondents to rate each outlet as very trustworthy, trustworthy, neither, untrustworthy, or very untrustworthy, calculating a net trust score (the difference between trustworthy and untrustworthy ratings). The Weather Channel remains the most trusted outlet, as in 2022–2024, with a net trust score of +49 (up from +43 in 2024), followed by public broadcasters BBC (+26) and PBS (+25).
The least trusted outlet is the National Enquirer (-37, improved from -44 in 2024), followed by Infowars (-15) and Breitbart News (-7), consistent with last year’s rankings.
Trends and Partisan Differences
Average net trust in news outlets rose slightly to +8 in 2025 from +4 in 2024, reversing a decline from 2023. Trust levels and outlet rankings have remained relatively stable over four years. Democrats are far more likely to trust news in general and most outlets, with 44 of 52 outlets (85%) trusted more than distrusted by Democrats, compared to only 21 (40%) for Republicans.
While both groups trust TV news more than print or online sources, their preferences differ: Democrats favor PBS, BBC, and NBC, while Republicans trust Fox News, Fox Business Channel, and Newsmax most.
Demographic trends highlight radio’s challenges. Among adults 45 and older, 34% rely on radio for news, compared to just 23% of those aged 18–44. Radio performs stronger among Republicans (37%) and Independents (32%), but only 23% of Democrats use it for news. This political split shows radio retains a loyal base but struggles to attract younger or left-leaning audiences.
No comments:
Post a Comment