Trust in media nears record low: Gallup

The American public’s trust in media outlets has fallen to its lowest level since the 2016 presidential election, according to a new poll. 

Only 7 percent of all Americans say they have “a great deal” of trust in reports appearing in newspapers, on television or in other media outlets, and 29 percent said they have “a fair amount” of trust in the media, the Gallup poll published on Thursday found. 

The combined 36 percent of all Americans who expressed some trust in the mainstream media is only 4 points above the lowest figure ever recorded by Gallup, in 2016 at the height of the presidential race between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and former President Trump. 

Overall, 29 percent of respondents in the new poll said they have “not very much” trust in media and 34 percent indicated they have “none at all.”

The poll is part of Gallup’s tracking of the public’s confidence in key U.S. institutions, which began in 1972. 

Along partisan lines, 68 percent of Democrats, 11 percent of Republicans and 31 percent of independents now say they trust the media a great deal or fair amount, pollsters noted. The gap between Democrats and Republicans on trust in media is the widest it has been since 2017, when overall trust in news gatherers and disseminators rebounded 13 points from the lowest point recorded in 2016.

Republicans’ confidence in the accuracy and fairness of the news media’s reporting has not risen above 52 percent in 25 years, according to Gallup, which added that overall trust in media has not risen to a majority level since 2003.

Gallup’s poll was conducted Sept. 1-17 among 1,005 adults and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.