A new poll by YouGov is giving a stark perspective on the mistrust Americans feel with the news media, and while those numbers differ between party lines, the difference isn’t significant.
Both Democrats and Republicans trust their “friends and family” more than “poll results” or the “news media,” recent findings have suggested, noting that Democrats were significantly more likely than Republicans to trust poll results, the news media, and political campaigns.
Overall, the results show a grim outlook for the industries and institutions responsible for conveying election information.
When asked if they trusted poll results for accurate information about elections, 47% said “not much” and “not at all” while 46% said “a great deal” or “a fair amount.” Just 44% showed trust in the news media, with 51% distrusting the news media.
Findings further indicated that at least 68% of Americans do not trust social media as a viable place to get their news information, while 26% do. For political campaigns, 70% distrust these efforts to persuade voters while 24% of people showed trust in them.
Age, too, was a factor in the polls. Younger voters (people under the age of 30) were more likely to trust non-family sources for their information than those older than them. They were also much more likely to trust social media than those who are older than them, and seem to view social media with nearly the same trust as the news media.
In an analysis conducted by columnist Philip Bump, he highlighted Pew Research Center polls that showed very few Americans knew people who supported a different presidential candidate than one they supported.
Therefore: people who support President Joe Biden will turn to others who support the Democrat for their political information. Likewise, those who support former President Donald Trump will also turn to fellow Trump-supporters for their information.
Despite no evidence of voter fraud in the US 2020 election, many Republicans have continued to indulge the former president’s unsubstantiated claim that the election was rigged or stolen.
The former president is now facing indictments related to his efforts to overturn the results of the election. However, support for the former president hasn’t wavered, and the YouGov poll showed that 65% of Republicans still want Trump to run for president in 2024, and 61% also say Trump is their first choice for candidate.