Poll: Most Americans believe news media is increasing political divisions

Most Americans believe news media in the United States is harmful, not helpful, to reducing political polarization in the country, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. The poll was released Monday, May 1, ahead of World Press Freedom Day on Wednesday, May 3.

“Overall, 44% of adults polled believe the U.S. government is doing a good job protecting the freedom of the press in this country, and 42% say the same about freedom of speech,” the center said in a press release Monday. “Most Americans are also at least somewhat concerned about direct threats to the press, including about one-third who are extremely or very concerned about attacks on journalists.”

74% of Americans who responded to the poll said news media is doing more to increase political divisions in the U.S.

40% said news media is doing more to hurt democracy, compared to just 17% who said news media is doing more to protect democracy.

Only 16% of respondents said they have a great deal or a lot of confidence in news media’s ability to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. 45% have little to no confidence.

While the major trends of the poll defied party lines, there were smaller political divides within the numbers. 61% of Republicans said news media is hurting democracy, compared to just 23% of Democrats.

More Republicans also believed the news is strongly influenced by the U.S. government and the political views of journalists.

“Nearly all adults (93%) view the spread of misinformation to be a problem. About two-thirds of adults attribute responsibility for the spread of misinformation to U.S. politicians, social media companies, and their users,” the center said. “But nearly as many (58%) are holding the news media responsible as well. And when it comes to fixing the problem, 63% of adults say the news media has a great deal or quite a bit of responsibility to address the spread of misinformation.”