Interest and trust in news drops among Democrats, Republicans, independents: Pew

Oct 25, 2023

Karah Rucker Anchor/Reporter

By Karah Rucker (Anchor/Reporter), Zachary Hill (Video Editor)

With the 2024 presidential election a year away, new research shows that Americans are watching or reading the news less closely than they were just a few years earlier. According to a new Pew Research Center analysis, since 2016, there has been a precipitous decline in adults following the news.

In 2016, 51% of adults said they followed the news “all or most of the time.” The latest numbers from 2022 show that number has dropped to 38%.

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The decline in viewership comes as the public faces high levels of news fatigue and questions whether the media is accurately and fairly reporting the news. This distrust has been driven by political division in recent years.

According to a September poll by Gallup, American’s confidence that the news media will accurately report the news is at its lowest level since 2016. That’s when Republican trust in the media plummeted after former president Donald Trump began calling the press fake news and the “enemy of the people.”

Historically, Democrats have had more trust in the media than Republicans, but the Gallup study shows their confidence in the news is also down, having fallen 12 points in the last year to 58%.

It is worth nothing that those numbers are still much higher than those for Republicans and independents:

58% Democrats.
11% Republicans.
29% Independents.

In a 2019 discussion about building trust with news consumers, the director of Journalism Research at Pew, Amy Mitchell, said the sheer amount of information online has made it difficult for Americans to identify credible news sources.

“The majority of Americans … have said to us in our survey work that they are overwhelmed by the amount of news and information that’s out there today,” Mitchell said. “We looked at people’s ability to differentiate between factual statements in the news and opinions. And we were interested to see what characteristics have some impact or don’t have some impact on that. And what we saw was pretty striking, which was that those who had high digital savviness compared with low digital savviness did far better in their ability to distinguish between those two.”

There are also calls for social media platforms to stop the spread of misinformation. The Israel-Hamas war is the latest example. During the week of Oct. 15, the European Union sent a letter to X owner Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, demanding they stop the spread of misinformation on their platforms or face penalties.

Tags: 2024 Elections, Democrats, European Union, Media Bias, Meta, Misinformation, Newspaper, Pew Research, Republicans, Social Media, X

TWO WARS, A HOUSE WITHOUT A SPEAKER, AND A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION NOW A YEAR AWAY.

GETTING ACCURATE INFORMATION HAS NEVER BEEN MORE VITAL.

BUT INCREASINGLY – FEWER AMERICANS ARE WATCHING OR READING THE NEWS.

NEW RESEARCH IS PAINTING A TROUBLING PICTURE OF HABITS HERE IN THE U-S.

LET’S START WITH A PEW RESEARCH CENTER ANALYSIS OUT THIS WEEK.

SINCE 20-16 THERE HAS BEEN A PRECIPITOUS DECLINE IN ADULTS FOLLOWING THE NEWS.

IN 20-16 FIFTY-ONE PERCENT OF ADULTS, SAID THEY FOLLOWED THE NEWS ALL – OR MOST OF THE TIME.

THE LATEST NUMBERS, FROM 20-22 SHOW THAT NUMBER FELL TO THIRTY-EIGHT PERCENT.

THE DECLINE IN VIEWERSHIP COMES AS THE PUBLIC QUESTIONS WHETHER THE MEDIA IS ACCURATELY AND FAIRLY REPORTING THE NEWS… DISTRUST THAT HAS BEEN DRIVEN BY POLITICAL DIVISION IN RECENT YEARS..

ACCORDING TO A SEPTEMBER POLL BY GALLUP – CONFIDENCE IN THE NEWS MEDIA TO ACCURATELY REPORT THE NEWS IS AT ITS LOWEST SINCE 20-16.. WHEN REPUBLICAN TRUST IN THE MEDIA PLUMMETED AS FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP BEGAN CRITICIZING THE PRESS CALLING IT QUOTE THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE AND FAKE NEWS.

“I’d like to welcome the fake news media which is back there… there is a lot of people back there.”

HISTORICALLY DEMOCRATS HAVE HAD MORE TRUST IN THE MEDIA THAN REPUBLICANS…BUT THE GALLUP STUDY SHOWS THEIR CONFIDENCE IN MEDIA IS ALSO DOWN.

FALLING TWELVE POINTS IN THE LAST YEAR TO FIFTY-EIGHT PERCENT.

STILL MUCH HIGHER THAN THE ELEVEN PERCENT OF REPUBLICANS AND TWENTY-NINE PERCENT OF INDEPENDENTS WHO SAY THEY TRUST THE NEWS MEDIA.

IN A 2019 DISCUSSION ABOUT BUILDING TRUST WITH NEWS CONSUMERS, THE DIRECTOR OF JOURNALISM RESEARCH AT PEW, AMY MITCHELL SAID… THE SHEAR AMOUNT OF INFORMATION ONLINE HAS MADE IT DIFFICULT FOR AMERICANS TO IDENTIFY CREDIBLE NEWS SOURCES.

“The majority of Americans are also—have said to us in our survey work that there are overwhelmed by the amount of news and information that’s out there today. So one of the things we did, that it’s worth, I think, local journalists thinking about, is that we looked at people’s ability to differentiate between factual statements in the news and opinions. And we were interested to see what characteristics have some impact or don’t have some impact on that. And what we saw was pretty striking, which was that those who had high digital savviness compared with low digital savviness did far better in their ability to distinguish between those two.”

THESE FINDINGS COME AS CALLS GROW LOUDER FOR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS TO STOP THE SPREAD OF MISINFORMATION.THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR BEING THE LATEST EXAMPLE.LAST WEEK THE EU SENT A LETTER TO “X” OWNER ELON MUSK AND META CEO MARK ZUCKERBERG DEMANDING THEY STOP THE SPREAD OF MISINFORMATION ON THEIR PLATFORMS OR FACE PENALTIES.