Americans' trust in media at lowest point in 5 decades: Survey
Americans' trust in the media to report the news fairly and accurately has sunk to its lowest point in more than five decades.
Just 31 percent of respondents in Gallup’s latest survey on the topic said they trust the mainstream media “a great deal” or “a fair amount,” while 36 percent said they don’t trust the media “at all.” Another third said they do not have much trust in the media.
Gallup began tracking views of the news media in the 1970s when attitudes were overwhelmingly positive and only 6 percent said they didn’t trust the news at all. Nearly 70 percent in that initial survey said they had a great deal or a fair amount of trust.
The numbers have dramatically tumbled in the decades since and continue to decline after a brief tick up in 2017 and 2018, a trend Gallup notes has been most visible among younger adults and Republicans and particularly since the growth of the internet, social media and alternative sources of information.
About 6 in 10 Republicans said they have no trust in mainstream media, with a particularly sharp increase coinciding with President Trump’s rise in politics. Comparatively, 6 percent of Democrats said they have no trust in what’s reported.
The survey comes as Trump enters his second month in office and has had spats with traditional media, including the White House press corps. The White House has removed The Associated Press, a longstanding member of the White House press corps, from certain coverage opportunities after a feud over Trump renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which the AP has refused to use because of the news wire's international audience.
White House press secretary Karoline Levitt cited the growth in distrust of “legacy” outlets in the decision to include more “new media” opportunities in press briefings and other availabilities. The White House further announced this week that it would take over which outlets are included in the rotating press pool that covers the president.
During his campaign for a second term in office after losing in 2020 to former President Biden, Trump engaged with podcasters, influencers, bloggers and other nontraditional outlets.
Gallup found an age gap has similarly emerged when it comes to trust in media, with younger Americans less trusting than people 50 and older.
According to Gallup’s analysis combining data from 2022 to 2024, the survey found a 17-point gap between people 65 and older (43 percent) and those under age 50 (26 percent).
Gallup’s latest survey is based on interviews conducted Sept. 3-15 among 1,007 adults in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
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