Polarization and Trust in Media

Megan Brenan at Gallup:

Americans' trust in the media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly has edged down four percentage points since last year to 36%, making this year's reading the second lowest in Gallup's trend.

In all, 7% of U.S. adults say they have "a great deal" and 29% "a fair amount" of trust and confidence in newspapers, television and radio news reporting -- which, combined, is four points above the 32% record low in 2016, amid the divisive presidential election campaign between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. In addition, 29% of the public currently registers "not very much" trust and 34% have "none at all."

...

Partisans' trust in the media continues to be sharply polarized. Currently, 68% of Democrats, 11% of Republicans and 31% of independents say they trust the media a great deal or fair amount. The 57-point gap in Republicans' and Democrats' confidence is within the 54- to 63-point range for the two groups since 2017.

While both Democrats' and independents' trust has slid five points over the past year, Republicans' has held steady.

Historically, Republicans' confidence in the accuracy and fairness of the news media's reporting has not risen above 52% over the past quarter century. At the same time, Democrats' confidence has not fallen below the 2016 reading of 51%. For their part, independents' trust in the media has not been at the majority level since 2003.