Gallup: Dems still trust media, Republicans despise more than ever
It’s an election year, so media bias and arrogance is on full display.
Gallup has released its survey of public trust in the media. The findings are confirmation of what we already knew: Democrats still mostly love the media, Republicans despise the media more than ever.
First the top line number. Overall trust in the media is at a historical low and has fallen off a cliff:
By party affiliation, however, a majority of Democrats still trust the media. Among Republicans, however, trust is down to a mere 14%.
An interesting dynamic in the numbers is that in Obama-era election years (2008-2010-2012-2014-2016) Republican numbers drop significantly from the prior year.
That makes sense, it’s in election years that the media’s core bias is on display, particularly during debates:
Gallup also notes a slide is all categories since 2005, but particularly since 2007 as shown in the charts:
The divisive presidential election this year may be corroding Americans’ trust and confidence in the media, particularly among Republicans who may believe the “mainstream media” are too hyperfocused on every controversial statement or policy proposal from Trump while devoting far less attention to controversies surrounding the Clinton campaign. However, the slide in media trust has been happening for the past decade. Before 2004, it was common for a majority of Americans to profess at least some trust in the mass media, but since then, less than half of Americans feel that way. Now, only about a third of the U.S. has any trust in the Fourth Estate, a stunning development for an institution designed to inform the public.
That also makes sense. The era of the media lovefest for Obama started in 2007, collapsing media credibility.
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Comments
Why sure the Democrats still trust the media. After all, one might as well call it the Dems PR agents. If the medias was doing its job, those number would likely be reversed.
Except for Krugman. This NYT writer (and former economist) thinks the press is favoring Trump. Of course, Paul Krugman is now insane.
He was none too happy with Matt Lauer.
As far as Krugman (as well as others at the NYT) are concerned, anyone in the press who doesn’t tied Trump to a chair when he shows up for an interview so they can spit on him and pistol whip him is going too easy on the guy.
I dunno that Deemocrats “trust” the media. They LIKE and SUPPORT the media, because it is so clearly “theirs”.
I doubt very much that the average Collectivist even thinks about “trust” when they’re hearing what they want to hear.
I know a lot of right-leaning people “trust” sources I don’t, and for the same reasons. They’re hearing what they want to hear, and don’t think critically.
In the case of the Dems, I think it’s “turst” in the sense of acceptance as opposed to “truth and reliability.”
Glad to know you think of yourself as the superior being, who, unlike virtually everyone else, thinks critically.
It’s evident I DO, and have the balls to say so.
It’s also evident that many DO NOT.
Or would you like to make a rational argument they do?
Make that Conservatives that despise the media. Trumpublicans love them some Fox News and all the Trump butt-kissing they perform.
The myth of media trustworthiness is a fading remnant from WWII, when American media was unabashedly pro-American and gained an unprecedented level of public confidence, far beyond what was justified even then. The culmination of this trust came in Cronkite, a former radio war correspondent who became “the most trusted man in America” and used that trust to promote his personal liberal views.
The norm in American history is a healthy mistrust of the press and a recognition that publishers/outlet owners have their own agenda and their organs are used to promote said agenda with little if any consideration for truth. If we are regressing toward that norm, it’s a good thing. There is nothing special or magical about “the fourth estate” beyond its own mythology.
I stopped reading newsmagazines (Time, Newsweek, etc.) over twenty-five years ago. I stopped reading newspapers nearly twenty years ago. I stopped listening to radio news almost fourteen years ago. I disconnected my cable TV around six years ago. These days, I get all of my news from blogs (Ace, LI, Patterico, others) and online aggregators (Drudge, for ex.). Occasionally, I will follow a link to a media site.
As for trusting the so-called mainstream media… hell, no! I’ve seen them lie too often. I’ve seen them ignore stories that don’t fit the liberal narrative. As far as I am concerned, the “mainstream media” is the wholly-owned and -controlled propaganda arm of the Democrats/liberals/ socialists/SJWs.
Goebbels would be proud of them.
Interesting that dems in the second graph hit their highest peak during the Bush admin time. Must have been the hate from the media that made them happy.
Then note that the level has fallen even though they have obama in office. Considering the media has been kneeling down in his presence I find it strange they’ve dropped 19 points since the high of 2005.
I’d like to think they’re actually seeing the loss of personal freedoms, but I chalk it up to normal liberal stupidity.
The narrative must be frequently refreshed in order to support progressive wars, refugee crises, trickle-up poverty, class diversity, selective exclusion (“=”), and the fantasy of Pro-Choicers who advocate and practice abortion rites.
Curious that as a business model they would not choose to serve both audiences.
News media isn’t in business to make money — witness how so many of them are going to way of unprofitable prestige holdings for Liberal billionaires. They exist now to mold public opinion and turn everyone into atomized globalist consumers — the profit is made elsewhere. Think of them as the marketing department…
Excellent point.