Americans’ trust in the legacy media has plummeted to an all-time low - particularly among young people, signaling bad news for major TV outlets, radio shows, and news sites.
According to a new poll out from Gallup, which has polled Americans on this question for more than five decades, less than a third - only 31%, in fact - of Americans say they have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in the media to report the news “fully, accurately and fairly.” Conversely, 33% report “not very much” confidence.
Thirty-six percent, on the other hand, say that when it comes to their faith in the media to report the news fairly and accurately, they have “none at all.” In total, fewer Americans say they trust the media now than at any other year Gallup has taken the poll, which has been conducted almost yearly since 1997.
While Democrats are, unsurprisingly, far more likely to say they trust the establishment media’s news reporting, only 54% of Democrats say they have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in it. Only 12% of Republicans say the same.
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But perhaps mostly notable is the change in Independents’ perception of the media. A full 74% of Independents said they trusted the media back in 1976 (the highest Gallup’s ever recorded among the group). By 2000, that number had dropped to 47%, but was still coming in at about half.
Today, only 27% of Independents - roughly one in four - say they trust, or mostly trust, the news media to do their jobs fairly and accurately.
Similarly, only 26% of respondents aged 18 to 29 say they have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the news media. Gallup adds that “Young Democrats trust the media far less than older Democrats do: 31% of Democrats aged 18 to 29 versus 74% of those aged 65 and older have a great deal or fair amount of confidence.”
In fact, “The news media is the least trusted group among 10 U.S. civic and political institutions involved in the democratic process,” falling behind every governmental branch and even Congress, Gallup reports.
Tends to happen when you do nothing but lie, deceive, manipulate, and peddle propaganda.
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