Only 45% of Americans have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in the news, according to a new Gallup poll. It echoes similar results from the Pew Research Center. 18% have no confidence in news reporting at all, a new low, says Gallup.
The highest recent level on the confidence side was 55, recorded in 1999; it bottomed out at 43 last year.
Other highlights from the poll. 45% think the news media is too liberal; 15% say it’s too conservative; and 35% say it’s just about right.
Democrats are the most trusting. 58% have a great deal or fair amount of confidence, compared to 39% of independents and 36% of Republicans. The latter number represents a very significant leap from 2008, however, when only 27% of Republicans said the same.
74% of Republicans say the news media is too liberal, a view shared by 45% of independents and 21% of Democrats.
Gallup also figured out who trusts the media by group, with the following results:
58%: Democrats
58%: Nonwhites
58%: High school or less
53%: Liberals
51%: Women
50%: Aged 18-29
49%: Less than $30K income/yr.
49%: Moderates
47%: Aged 65+
46%: $30K-$74,999 income/yr.
44%: Aged 30-49
43%: Aged 50-64
40%: Whites
40%: $75K+ income/yr.
39%: Independents
39%: Some college
38%: Men
38%: College grads
37%: Postgraduates
37%: Conservatives
36%: Republicans
Source: Gallup
RBR-TVBR observation: Yeah, yeah. People always hate the news media. Then they turn right back to it. It’s just like everybody talks about how bad Congress is whenever they talk to a pollster – and then produce a voting record in which incumbents almost always win. The simple fact is that people like their news a lot better than they will ever admit.
