Journalists often recoil at President Trump’s blistering attacks on the media, portraying them as a threat to the democratic principle of a strong free press that holds those in power accountable by reporting the truth. But a new poll shows why his attacks ultimately work.
Trump’s contentious relationship with the press has been a central part of his political career since it launched in 2015. His attacks on the press helped endear him to conservative primary voters who may have otherwise been turned off by his earlier flirtations with liberal policies on issues such as abortion, gun control, and healthcare. Though even by the standards of a politician, Trump has a penchant for exaggerating or lying with ease, his barbs against the dishonesty of the media, which have been aided by a steady flow of high profile mistakes, have allowed him to wave away unfavorable reporting with the phrase “fake news.”
Now, a new poll from the Columbia Journalism Review in association with Reuters/Ipsos, helps us explain why it works, as it provides fresh insight into the skepticism with which the public views the media.
On the overarching question, “Would you say you have a great deal of confidence, only some confidence, or hardly any confidence at all in the people running the institution?” — though the executive branch, which Trump heads, was near the bottom, views of the press were even worse. More people said they had “hardly any confidence” in the press than any other institution, and Congress was the only institution that had fewer people claiming “a lot of confidence.”
A further breakdown of the poll found, predictably, that Republicans were much more skeptical of the press, but even among Democrats, only a little more than a quarter said they had a “great deal of confidence” in the press. While 42 percent of Democrats said that the media had no partisan bias, just 10 percent of Republicans said the same.
Other polls showed that most people believe that journalists often write articles “before learning the facts of the event,” 41 percent say they are “less likely to believe a story with anonymous sources,” and a stunning 60 percent of respondents believed that “reporters get paid by their sources sometimes or very often.”
So, it isn’t surprising that attacking the media is Trump’s bread and butter. He knows that if he attacks news coverage, he taps into a deep well of distrust for the media among his base. At the same time, even people who may not agree with him on substance don’t have much sympathy for journalists anyway.
