Americans' trust in media plummets to historic low: poll

American's trust in media has fallen to a historic low, according to new polling from Gallup.

Why it matters: Trust in media had previously dropped to 32% in 2016 before rebounding slightly. Those gains have essentially been wiped out, according to the poll.

Details: Only 32% of the population reports having "a great deal" or "a fair amount" of confidence that the media reports the news in a full, fair and accurate way.

• The only other time in recent history that trust has fallen to 32% was in 2016.

📉 In some cases, the sentiment is worse today.

• A record-high number of Americans (39%), say they don't trust the media at all. That number has steadily increased since 2018.

Be smart: Much of the sentiment dip is driven by Democrats and Independents, whose collective trust in media has plummeted 18 and 13 percentage points, respectively, from their 2018 peaks.

• Younger Democrats, in particular, tend to be much less trusting of the media, according to Gallup data.
• Republicans' trust in media is still near an all-time low.

Go deeper: Americans mostly believe news they hear on podcasts

Of note: The poll was conducted in September, which means the 2023 data doesn't reflect the recent coverage of the ongoing Hamas-Israel war or the current drama surrounding the election of a House speaker.