Media more trustworthy than Trump, poll finds

Is the First Amendment under attack?
Is the First Amendment under attack?

Republicans trust Donald Trump. Everyone else trusts the media.

That is the finding of a Quinnipiac University poll which shows a dramatic split between Republicans and other Americans when it comes to matters of trust.

Quinnipiac's survey found that 52% of voters trust the media more than they trust Trump, while only 37% said they trusted Trump more. Among Democrats, 86% said they trusted the media more than the president.

But among Republican voters, the balance is flipped: 78% said they trusted Trump more than the media, while just 13% said they trusted the media more.

The poll suggests that Trump's aggressive efforts to discredit the media over the last two years have had a profound effect not just on his base, but on Republican voters at large.

trump quinnipiac poll

It also suggests that Trump's attacks on the media -- he recently called them the "enemy of the American people" -- have drawn clear battle lines among the American public.

"The media, so demonized by the Trump administration, is actually a good deal more popular than President Trump," said Tim Malloy, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

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There is also a profound split between college-educated white voters and non-college-educated white voters, with the former trusting the media more (55% to 37%) and the latter trusting Trump more (also 55% to 37%).

While white voters are generally split on the trust question, preferring the media by 46% to 45%, nonwhite voters trust the media far more, with 68% expressing trust in the media versus just 18% expressing trust for Trump.

Those divides are also reflected in the approval rating for Trump's treatment of the media: 61% of American voters (and 92% of Democrats) disapprove of Trump's treatment of the media, while 73% of Republicans approve of it.

Meanwhile, a total of 90% of American voters say it is "very important" or "somewhat important" "that the news media hold public officials accountable."

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