Americans' overall trust in the media has declined since last year and is plummeting among self-identified Republicans, a new survey from Morning Consult and the Hollywood Reporter shows.
The survey, conducted among more than 2,000 American adults from March 28 to April 2 of this year, comes as President Donald Trump is ramping up the critical rhetoric of the press he's employed throughout his presidency.
As Morning Consult noted, Trump has complained about "fake news" on Twitter 400 times since November 2016, and numerous other times during public appearances as well.
Read more: More than 2,400 people lost their jobs in a media landslide so far this year
The survey asked respondents whether they believed leading broadcasters CBS, ABC, and NBC; cable news channels MSNBC, CNN, and Fox; print outlets the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal; and National Public Radio are credible.
While trust in the media has declined among all groups, the researchers believe Trump's comments seem to be having the most significant impact on media credibility among Republicans, with the share of self-identified Republicans finding those nine news outlets credible decreasing 12 percentage points from 56% to 44% since 2016.
The survey also found that CNN and the New York Times - two of the outlets Trump attacks the most frequently - have experienced the biggest drop in credibility among Republicans, falling by nearly 20 percentage points since 2016.
Among all adult Americans surveyed:
- On average, 55% of adults found the 9 outlets included in the survey credible.
- 63% of adults find CBS credible
- 61% of adults think NBC is credible
- 60% who find ABC credible.
- 59% of adults think the Wall Street Journal is credible
- 53% of Americans thought CNN was credible, the same percentage as the New York Times
- 51% think Fox News is credible
- 49% think NPR is credible.
- 48% of Americans think MSNBC is credible
Among Democrats:
- On average, 69% of Democrats surveyed found the 9 outlets included in the survey credible
- 81% trusted ABC, the most of any outlet
- 80% found NBC credible
- 79% said CBS is credible
- 74% said CNN was credible
- 72% of Democrats said the New York Times is credible
- 67% of Democrats think MSNBC is credible, down from 75% in 2018
- 65% of Democrats think the Wall Street Journal is credible
- 60% of Democrats believe NPR is credible
- 42% of Democrats think Fox News is credible, the lowest of any outlet
Among Republicans:
- On average, 44% of Republicans surveyed found the 9 outlets included in the survey credible
- 70% said Fox News was credible, the highest of any outlet
- 50% of Republicans believed the Wall Street Journal is credible
- 50% of Republicans also think CBS is credible
- 48% think ABC is credible
- 45% of Republicans think NBC is credible
- 40% of Republicans believe NPR is credible
- 32% of Republicans think the New York Times and CNN are credible
- 31% of Republicans think MSNBC is credible, the ease of any outlet
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