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About six in 10 Americans said they have at least “some” confidence that news organizations will report the upcoming midterm election results accurately, according to a new national survey. But only 32% said they had “quite a bit” or “a great deal” of confidence that journalists would do the job.
In the survey from Medill Local News Initiative and the Alliance for Trust in Media, 37% said they had either “not too much confidence” or “no confidence at all” that news outlets would accurately report the election results.
The survey was completed by a nationally representative sample of 1,057 U.S. adults either online or by telephone. The findings echo other national surveys, including a Gallup survey that showed trust in media to report “fully, accurately, and fairly” at 33% — an increase from an all-time low last year.
The Medill/Alliance survey found about half of Americans said they had “not too much confidence” or “no confidence at all” in news outlets to investigate voter fraud claims thoroughly. U.S. President Donald Trump has cast doubt on elections on 70% of days since returning to office — starting with false claims about voter fraud on the first day of his second term.
In another bleak result from the same poll, slightly more survey respondents said journalists manipulate the news for political or commercial purposes than report it accurately. Across the survey, Democrats reported being more confident in (and trusting of) news organizations than Republicans. Nearly 80% of Republicans said journalists try to manipulate the news compared to 38% of Republicans and 24% of Democrats.
More on the survey, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago, here.
