New poll shows that a growing number of Americans are losing trust in mainstream media as the U.S. continues to grapple with misinformation.
According to Gallup’s own survey, 32 percent of Americans said that they trust the media “a great deal” or “a fair amount” to report the news, a slight drop from 2021’s 36 percent and 2022’s 34 percent.
Meanwhile, 29 percent of the respondents said that they don’t have ““not very much” trust in the news, while a whopping 39 percent answered “none at all.” Trust in the media peaked in the mid-1970s.
“This nearly four in 10 Americans who completely lack confidence in the media is the highest on record by one percentage point. It is 12 points higher than the 2016 reading, which came amid sharp criticism of the media from then-presidential candidate Donald Trump — making the current assessment of the media the grimmest in Gallup’s history. In 2016, U.S. adults were most likely to say they had “not very much” trust (41%),” Gallup noted in its report.
While Democrats have historically shown more trust in mainstream media than Republicans, the latest poll also demonstrates that even Democrats have begun to lose confidence.
“Democrats’ confidence in the mass media has consistently outpaced Republicans’, but the latest gap of 47 points is the narrowest since 2016. Democrats’ trust in the media has fallen 12 points over the past year, to 58%, and compares with 11% among Republicans and 29% among independents,” the analytics company continued.
This comes as Americans continue to be lied to by the mainstream media; from U.S. Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh being labeled as a serial rapist to former President Donald Trump’s apparent secret status as a Russian spy. Americans have rightfully become skeptical of the corporate press after 2016.
“Americans’ confidence in the mass media to report the news fully, fairly and accurately is at its lowest point since 2016, when Republicans’ trust fell sharply. This low confidence reading for the fourth estate comes at a time when trust in each of the three branches of the federal government is also low,” Gallup concluded.
