Gallup Poll : 84 percent of Americans agree that “the media is to blame for political division in this country”

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, a new study from Gallup and the Knight Foundation shows that a whopping 86 percent of Americans believe media outlets lean one way or another politically, with 49 percent saying there’s “a great deal” of bias while 37 percent say “a fair amount.”

A majority of Americans, 56 percent, say their go-to news source has some form of “bias,” with 20 percent acknowledging a “great deal” of bias at their preferred outlet while 36 percent saying “a fair amount” of bias is present.

Those polled, however, have a greater concern about the bias of other media outlets, with 69 percent of respondents saying they worry about news sources that aren’t their own. By contrast, just 29 percent worry about the bias at their top choice for news.

The poll noted an increase in the percentage of Americans who see too much bias in ostensibly objective reporting as a “major problem.” According to the poll, 73 percent of Americans share that belief, up from 65 percent in 2017.

Meanwhile, a stunning 84 percent of Americans agree that “the media is to blame for political division in this country,” though the same percentage also believe the media “can serve as a healing force.”

In perhaps the most stunning findings, almost 80 percent of Americans say news organizations they don’t trust are “trying to persuade people to adopt a certain viewpoint” while just 12 percent say media outlets are trying to report “accurately and fairly but are unable to do so.” Nearly three-quarters of those polled (74 percent) are worried that the owners of media companies are “influencing coverage.”

More than half of Americans polled (54 percent) say they believe reporters are “misrepresenting the facts” and another 28 percent believe reporters are “making [facts] up entirely.” More than three-quarters (78 percent) of Americans believe “misinformation” that is shared on social media is “the leading problem with news today.”

The results of the 2020 survey suggest further partisan entrenchment in media attitudes. While pessimism about the media has deepened across the board over the past two years, it is most pronounced among Republicans.

“Most Americans have lost confidence in the media to deliver the news objectively,” said Sam Gill, Knight’s senior vice president and chief program officer. “This is corrosive for our democracy.”