Less than half of Americans have trust in the mass media.

Well, duh.

Republicans Remain Deeply Distrustful of News Media

Republicans in America today remain deeply distrustful of the national news media -- in sharp contrast to Democrats, who have a great deal more trust in the media's accuracy. Overall, less than half of Americans, regardless of partisanship, have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the mass media. Nearly half of Americans -- including over three-quarters of Republicans -- perceive the media as too liberal while fewer than one in five say the media are too conservative. Americans are less likely to perceive bias in their local news media than in the national news media.

The Governance survey shows that only 9% of Americans say they have a great deal of trust and confidence in the mass media to report the news "fully, accurately, and fairly," while another 38% say they have a "fair amount" of trust in the media to do this.

In this year's survey, exactly half as many Republicans as Democrats say they have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the news media. Independents tend to be closer to the largely cynical views of Republicans than to the more trusting views of Democrats.

The differences between Republican and Democratic views of the media have been evident throughout this decade, although in the September 2002 Gallup survey -- one year after the 9/11 terrorist attacks -- the gap between Republicans and Democrats was not nearly as large as it has been in the past four surveys.

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