As someone who has paid very close attention to the media news universe for the past two decades, I am not surprised that public trust in legacy news networks and many of the nation’s most powerful institutions continues to crater.
Since 1972, Gallup has tracked Americans’ trust in mass media (newspapers, TV, and radio). In 1976, 72 percent of Americans had a “great deal” of trust in the mass media whereas only 22 percent had “not very much” trust and a minuscule 4 percent had “none at all.”
Nearly 50 years later, only 31 percent still have a “great deal” of trust, 33 percent have “not very much,” and a shocking 33 percent say they have zero trust in the mass media. Incredibly, as of 2024, the percentage of Americans who generally trust the media has reached an all-time low while those who possess no trust has reached an all-time high. This is a very concerning trend that warrants investigation and analysis.
According to the Gallup data, the general inclination of public confidence in the mass media began a slow and steady decline from 1976 to 1996. However, from 1996 to 2003, this trend briefly reversed. In the period from 2003 to 2004, public trust in the media nose-dived. Why? Probably because the mass media lied about the events leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
By 2005, half of Americans still generally trusted the mass media while nearly 40 percent had “not very much” and more than one-in-10 Americans had lost all trust. During most of the Obama years, these numbers held fairly steady. Then, Donald Trump entered the political arena and unexpectedly won the 2016 election. Since then, Americans’ trust in the news media has plummeted.
To be sure, there are numerous examples of the mass media being blatantly biased against Trump both during and after his election. From the Russia Hoax to downplaying Trump’s economic successes, it became clearly evident that the legacy media was vehemently anti-Trump.
On this particular point, it is important to note that before 2016, the Gallup data show that Republicans and Democrats tended to parallel one another when it came to rising and falling levels of trust. However, since 2016, Democrats’ confidence in the mass media has increased whereas Republicans’ trust has fallen precipitously.
In 2016, 51 percent of Democrats had a “great deal” of trust in the mass media compared to only 14 percent of Republicans. As of 2024, 54 percent of Democrats retain a high degree of confidence in the news media while just 12 percent of Republicans currently do. Interestingly, Independents have tended to follow the Republicans in casting higher doubt concerning the media’s veracity. In 2016, 30 percent of Independents had a great deal of trust in the mass media. Today, that has sunk to 27 percent.
Aside from party affiliation, Americans of all age groups have displayed a drop in media confidence since 2016. While older Americans still tend to hold the mass media in somewhat high esteem, those aged 39-years-old and younger barely trust the mass media to accurately portray the news of the day.
When it comes to trust in major institutions, the Gallup data generally finds that most Americans still trust their local and state governments when it comes to handling problems. Meanwhile, when it comes to the federal government and the legislative branch, most Americans no longer trust these entities to handle international and domestic problems.
Again, there is a stark divide as to how these institutions are viewed by Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. Astonishingly, 82 percent of Democrats have a great deal of trust in the executive branch compared to only 9 percent of Republicans and 32 percent of Independents. This trend also applies to the federal government. Democrats overwhelmingly maintain a high amount of trust in the federal government’s abilities to solve domestic and international problems while Republicans and Independents have very little confidence that the federal government is capable of solving problems both at home and abroad.
Overall, as the Gallup polling demonstrates, Democrats have a much higher propensity to trust nearly all of the major institutions than their Republican and Independent counterparts, except when it comes to the judicial branch.
Of course, it goes without saying that Democrats are much more likely to trust most of these institutions simply because they currently hold great sway over them. It is not surprising that more than 80 percent of Democrats trust the executive branch considering that they hold the White House. The same could be said for the federal bureaucracy, mass media, academia, and several other influential institutions, which have been skewed in favor of the Democrat agenda for many decades.
Be that as it may, it is still a very dangerous development that does not bode well for the future. As a former U.S. history teacher, I am well aware that there have been periods in our nation when trust in powerful institutions, including the media, has ebbed and flowed. That is a natural and normal phenomenon.
However, what makes the current state of affairs particularly frightening is how partisan this has all become. On the one hand, we do not want to live in a country where only half of the populace trusts these major institutions. That is a recipe for civil strife. On the other hand, it is also an opportunity for reform. If these powerful institutions want to avoid their own demise, it would behoove them to realize how out-of-touch they have become, especially when it comes to those who lean to the political right.
Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is editorial director at The Heartland Institute.