Polls. Polls. Polls. After the presidential election of 2016, it’s a wonder we pay any attention to them at all. But let’s face it, the establishment media can’t get enough of them – except when the poll is about the news business itself – so it’s up to websites like Liberty Nation to do a little analysis and perhaps even a bit of deconstruction.
This week the Gallup Organization, who basically invented the poll business, (and wisely got out of the presidential polling fracas) asked Americans an interesting question: “In general, how much trust and confidence do you have in the mass media – such as newspapers, TV and radio – when it comes to reporting the news fully, accurately and fairly – a great deal, a fair amount, not very much or none at all?”
Certainly, a viable question. And here’s the not so surprising answer from Gallup:
Americans' trust and confidence in the mass media "to report the news fully, accurately and fairly" has dropped to its lowest level in Gallup polling history, with 32% saying they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media. This is down eight percentage points from last year.
Whoa -- that’s right up there with used car salesmen. Not surprisingly people who identify as Republicans were the harshest media critics, “Republicans who say they have trust in the media has plummeted to 14% from 32% a year ago. This is easily the lowest confidence among Republicans in 20 years,” says Gallup.
Indeed, it does seem the Fourth Estate has a bit of a credibility problem with the American people. To add insult to injury, The Wall Street Journal and NBC News recently teamed up for another poll. This one asked whether the establishment media has been too critical of the new president. They also asked whether the country is headed in the right direction. Drum roll, please. Here are the results, per Townhall:
The poll suggested that the public may be sympathetic to some of Mr. Trump’s recent attacks on the media. A majority of adults, 51%, said the media has been too critical of the president, while 41% said the press has been fair and objective.
As for the direction of the country the WSJ/NBC poll found that, “40% [of those polled] said the nation is headed in the right direction. That is up from 33% in December, and 18% in July.
It’s doubtful you’ll hear much about this in the establishment media – especially the part about American optimism since July when Mr. Obama was president.
But that’s not all! Our “poll spoiler alert” comes from none other than the esteemed folks at Quinnipiac released in USA Today:
The Quinnipiac University poll, released on Wednesday, asked participants if the media or Trump "tell you the truth about important issues." The survey said that 52% of voters trust the media, with only 37% saying they trusted Trump more.
What’s the deal with that? Quinnipiac seems to be in direct opposition to the Gallup poll. Well, let’s take a closer look at Quinnipiac. On November 2, 2016, they had Clinton ahead of Trump in Florida, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania (by five points in PA). For the record – in case memory does not serve you -- Trump won all three states. Any which way you cut it, Quinnipiac has a credibility problem.
You probably won’t hear much about the Gallup poll across the airwaves and in print. But that’s why places like Liberty Nation exist.
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