39% have no confidence at all in media
An October Gallup Poll shows far left, young, Democrats are now leading the charge of America’s distrust in Main Stream Media.
For decades, it was older white Americans who criticized corporate media for being owned by the left. While the numbers show mainstream media does have a consistent left leaning bent, younger Democrats believe this bent does not advocate, nor highlight the things they care about most.
The 32% of Americans who trust the mass media “a great deal” or “a fair amount” as reporting the news in a full, fair and accurate way ties Gallup’s lowest historical reading, previously recorded in 2016.
An additional 29% of American adults express “low” trust, while a record-breaking 39% report having “no trust at all in mainstream media.” This group of nearly four in ten Americans who have no faith in the media is the largest on record, surpassing the previous high by one percentage point. This represents an increase of 12 points from the 2016 survey, which occurred during a period of intense criticism from then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. As a result, the current perception of the media is the bleakest in Gallup’s history. In comparison, in 2016, the majority (41%) of U.S. adults reported having “low” trust.
The sentiment dip is primarily driven by Democrats and Independents, whose collective trust in media has plunged 18 and 13 percentage points, respectively, from 2018.
According to Gallup data, young Democrats are less trusting of the media.
There is still a low level of trust among Republicans in the media.
The Democratic Party’s trust in the media is at its lowest level since 2016
Historically, Democrats have outperformed Republicans in the mass media, but this latest gap of 47 points is the narrowest since 2016. The trust in the media among Democrats has declined 12 points over the past year, to 58%, compared with 11% among Republicans and 29% among independents.
In 2017, Democrats’ trust in media was above its trend average of 64%, while Republicans’ and independents’ were below their averages (33% and 44%, respectively).
Podcasts are the most trusted source of news for Americans.
Pew Research found that 87 percent of Americans who listen to podcasts expect the information to be mostly accurate.
In an era when trust in news is at a historic low, podcasts offer hope that media institutions can rebuild relationships with the public.
Podcast listenership and news consumption are growing in the U.S.
Around two-thirds (67%) of Americans who have listened to podcasts in the past year say news has been discussed in the podcasts.
More than half of Americans (55%) trust podcasts as much as other news sources.
A third (31%) say they trust podcasts more. Only 15% say they trust podcasts less.
In spite of the fact that younger Americans listen to podcasts more frequently, they are less likely to seek out news from podcasts. Only 23% of 18-29 year-olds listen to podcasts for news and current events, compared to 38% for those 65 and older.
A NEW KIND OF LEFT
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Only 11% of Republicans trust mass media.