PPP's annual poll on TV news finds that there's only one source more
Americans trust than distrust: PBS. 52% of voters say they trust PBS to only 29% who
don't trust it. The other seven outlets we polled on are all distrusted by a plurality of
voters.
Just like its actual ratings, Fox News has hit a record low in the four years that we've
been doing this poll. 41% of voters trust it to 46% who do not. To put those numbers into
some perspective the first time we did this poll, in 2010, 49% of voters trusted it to 37%
who did not.
We find once again this year that Democrats trust everything except Fox, and
Republicans don't trust anything other than Fox. Democrats put the most faith in PBS
(+61 at 72/11), followed by NBC (+45 at 61/16), MSNBC (+39 at 58/19), CBS (+38 at
54/16), CNN (+36 at 57/21), ABC (+35 at 51/16), and Comedy Central (+10 at 38/28).
Out of the non-Fox channels Republicans have the most faith in PBS at -21 (27/48),
followed by NBC (-48 at 18/66), CNN (-49 at 17/66), ABC (-56 at 14/70), MSNBC (-56
at 12/68), CBS (-57 at 15/72), and Comedy Central (-58 at 8/66).
“We continue to find that Democrats trust most tv news sources other than Fox, while
Republicans don’t trust anything except Fox,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public
Policy Polling. “News preferences are very polarizing along party lines.”
When it comes to asking Americans which single outlet they trust the most and least out
of the ones we polled on, Fox News once again wins both honors. 34% say it's the one
they trust the most, compared to 13% for PBS, 12% for CNN, 11% for ABC, 8% for
MSNBC, 6% for CBS, and 5% each for Comedy Central and NBC.
Even more Americans identify Fox News as the outlet they trust the least- 39% give its
that designation to 14% for MSNBC, 13% for CNN, 12% for Comedy Central, 5% for
ABC and CBS, 3% for NBC, and 1% for PBS.
PPP surveyed 800 voters nationally from January 31st to February 3rd. The margin of
error for the survey is +/-3.5%. This poll was not paid for or authorized by any campaign
or political organization. PPP surveys are conducted through automated telephone
interviews.
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/ ... al_206.pdf