A new survey by The Knight Foundation and Gallup reveals that 69 percent of Americans have lost trust in the media in the last ten years. This is slightly above the survey’s results in 2016 when it was at 68 percent, and represents a sharp drop from 2017 when 59 percent of Americans said they had lost trust in the media.
The results were divided along partisan lines with 94 percent of Republicans saying they didn’t trust the media and just 42 percent of Democrats feeling that way. Seventy-five percent of Independents–who often lean Republican said they also distrust the media.
It was much the same when broken down by conservative, moderate and liberal ideology, with 95 percent, 66 percent, and 46 percent registering distrust of the media, respectively.
Despite the grim numbers for the media, there is a silver lining. Large majorities of all the groups — Republicans, independents, Democrats, conservatives, moderates and liberals — who distrust the media believe that trust can be restored if the media can increase accuracy and reduce bias.
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