Americans’ trust in the media has been declining for years, but distrust in our news institutions is especially apparent among conservative audiences, according to the latest Pew Research Media Tracker survey.
The study, which asked Americans to rank 30 of the country’s major news sources, illustrates a clear asymmetry regarding how much Americans trust media organizations based on respondents’ political affiliations.
The study discovered that respondents who identify as Democrats or Democratic-leaning were more likely to trust news organizations. Republicans or those who are conservative-leaning, by contrast, were more likely to distrust them. Out of the 30 media outlets respondents were asked to rank, Democratic respondents trust many more outlets (23) than they distrust (7). Republicans, on the other hand, actively distrust far more outlets (22) than they trust (8).
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As a result, Democrats are more likely to consume a wider range of news content than Republicans and GOP-leaning independents, who are more likely to have a narrower media diet. While Democrats’ preferred news sources include major TV networks, cable news networks, public broadcasters and legacy newspapers, Republicans are much more likely to rely on a smaller number of sources, which typically include major TV networks, podcasts and websites.
So, what outlets do Democrats and Republicans trust? Most of the answers shouldn’t come as a surprise. Democrats most trust ABC News (61 percent), NBC News (60 percent), PBS (59 percent), CNN (58 percent), CBS News (56 percent), BBC News (52 percent), the New York Times (49 percent), NPR (47 percent), the Associated Press (47 percent) and MSNBC (45 percent).
When it comes to the outlets Democrats consume most, CNN topped the list (48 percent), followed by NBC (47 percent), ABC (46 percent), CBS (39 percent), MSNBC (33 percent), NPR (32 percent), the Associated Press (31 percent), PBS (31 percent), BBC News (30 percent) and the New York Times (29 percent).
Among Republicans, Fox News is the most trusted news source (56 percent), followed by the Joe Rogan Experience (31 percent), ABC News (26 percent), NBC News (25 percent), the Wall Street Journal (23 percent), CBS News (23 percent), PBS (23 percent), Newsmax (21 percent), CNN (21 percent) and BBC (20 percent).
When it comes to where Republicans are more likely to get their news, Fox News tops the list by a wide margin (57 percent), followed by ABC News (27 percent), NBC News (24 percent), CBS News (22 percent), the Joe Rogan Experience (22 percent), CNN (20 percent), Newsmax (15 percent), the Daily Wire (12 percent), the Tucker Carlson Network (9 percent) and Breitbart (7 percent).
The report also found that, in some cases, Democrats and Republicans are virtual opposites of each other when it comes to their perceptions of certain news organizations. For example, 58 percent of Democrats trust CNN, while 58 percent of Republicans distrust it. Several other cases reveal rare instances of audience crossover. For instance, the percentage of Republicans who watch CNN (20 percent) is almost identical to the percentage of Democrats who watch Fox (18 percent). And in a rare instance of media cohabitation, almost the same number of Republicans read USA Today as Democrats (11 percent vs. 17 percent, respectively). And even though the Wall Street Journal is considered a conservative publication, a higher percentage of Democrats reported reading it than Republicans (16 percent vs. 12 percent, respectively).
Pew’s report surveyed approximately 9,500 U.S. adults in March. Respondents were drawn from the nonpartisan think tank’s American Trends Panel, a nationally representative list of randomly selected U.S. adults.
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