In just a handful of years, the number of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents saying they trust national news organizations has plummeted from 70% in 2016 to just 35% this year, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in June.
Overall, nearly six in 10 Americans—58%—said they have at least some faith in national news outlets. But 78% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents express "a lot" or at least "some" trust in national news outfits. That leaves a partisan gap of some 43 points between Democrats and Republicans—the largest gap at any time since Pew began asking the question in 2016. The divide is even more pronounced between liberal Democrats (83% trust) and conservative Republicans (30% trust), yielding a yawning 53-point gap.
The change has mostly been fueled by Republicans, according to Pew.
Faith in local news has held up slightly better, with 75% of Americans expressing at least some trust in reporting from local outlets. But Republicans still have less trust than Democrats in local outlets.
So if it feels like Democrats and Republicans are living in two different worlds, they are. For one group, national news outlets can still provide a baseline understanding of what’s occurring in the world. For another group, those same outlets are providing very little in the way of basic truths—leaving no common set of facts for Americans to draw upon to create a public discourse.
Overall, nearly six in 10 Americans—58%—said they have at least some faith in national news outlets. But 78% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents express "a lot" or at least "some" trust in national news outfits. That leaves a partisan gap of some 43 points between Democrats and Republicans—the largest gap at any time since Pew began asking the question in 2016. The divide is even more pronounced between liberal Democrats (83% trust) and conservative Republicans (30% trust), yielding a yawning 53-point gap.
The change has mostly been fueled by Republicans, according to Pew.
Faith in local news has held up slightly better, with 75% of Americans expressing at least some trust in reporting from local outlets. But Republicans still have less trust than Democrats in local outlets.
So if it feels like Democrats and Republicans are living in two different worlds, they are. For one group, national news outlets can still provide a baseline understanding of what’s occurring in the world. For another group, those same outlets are providing very little in the way of basic truths—leaving no common set of facts for Americans to draw upon to create a public discourse.