Gallup polling indicates that trust remains both historically and consistently low in America’s federal institutions and media.
A study shared by Gallup indicates that America’s trust in the news media remains low, with only 31% of those polled expressing a “great deal” or “fair amount” of faith in the media to report news properly.
Americans had been asked by the poll, “In general, how much trust and confidence do you have in the mass media – such as newspapers, TV and radio – when it comes to reporting the news fully, accurately and fairly – a great deal, a fair amount, not very much or none at all?” One salient detail of the response, however, is the consistency of this loss of faith in American news media.
“For the third consecutive year, more U.S. adults have no trust at all in the media (36%) than trust it a great deal or fair amount. Another 33% of Americans express ‘not very much’ confidence,” Gallup Senior Editor Megan Brenan wrote.
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A new Gallup survey found that trust in the news media among Americans remains consistently low. (iStock)
While results have been conspicuously low since 2016, where the number first fell to 32%, Gallup has been asking the question for decades, first asking it in 1972 and reportedly measuring it most years since 1997. The significantly different numbers across the decades indicate a noticeable trend downward.
“In three readings in the 1970s, trust ranged from 68% to 72%, yet by Gallup’s next readings in the late 1990s and early 2000s, smaller majorities of 51% to 55% trusted the news media,” Brenan summarized. “The latest findings are from a poll conducted Sept. 3-15, which includes Gallup’s annual update on trust in the media and other civic and political entities in the U.S.”
One key aspect to note is the political divide, as “Currently, 54% of Democrats, 27% of independents and 12% of Republicans say they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media.” Independents’ trust, however, matches the record low of 2022.
Another noticeable factor is age, as young people appear to be far more wary of news media than older generations.
The Gallup poll found that Americans’ trust in the media was even lower than trust in the U.S. Congress. (Tasos Katopodis-Pool/Getty Images)
“An analysis by age groups using aggregated data to increase sample sizes shows a 17-percentage-point gap in trust between the oldest Americans (those aged 65 and older) and those under age 50 – 43% vs. 26%, respectively,” Gallup reported.
Even among Democrats, who appear to trust the news media far more than Republicans, there is a stark contrast between 74% of those aged 65 and older who have a “great deal or fair amount of confidence” in the media, versus a mere 31% of Democrats aged 18 to 29 who do.
The news media, polling indicates, is the “least trusted group among 10 U.S. civic and political institutions,” with the U.S. Congress only slightly behind at 34%.
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The noteworthy exception is local government, where majorities of U.S. adults polled “express at least a fair amount of trust in their local government to handle local problems (67%), their state government to address state problems (55%), and the American people as a whole when it comes to making judgments under our democratic system about the issues facing the country (54%).”
