American Trust in the Media Plummets to Historic Low, Gallup Poll Finds
Fewer than three in ten Americans trust newspapers, television, or radio to report the news accurately and fairly — the lowest level recorded since Gallup began measuring media trust.
A Gallup poll has revealed that Americans’ trust in the media has fallen to its lowest level ever recorded, with only 28% expressing a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in newspapers, television, and radio to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly. This marks a decline from 31% last year and 40% five years ago.
At the same time, 7 in 10 adults in the U.S. now say they have “not very much” trust (36%) or “none at all” (34%) in the media.
When Gallup first began measuring trust in the news media in the 1970s, between 68% and 72% of Americans expressed confidence. By the next reading in 1997, public trust had dropped to 53%.
Trust remained slightly above 50% until it declined to 44% in 2004 and has not reached a majority since. The highest level in the past decade was 45% in 2018, just two years after a steep decline during the divisive 2016 presidential election campaign.
The latest figure of 28%, recorded between September 2 and 16, marks the first time trust has fallen below 30%.
Trust Hits Rock Bottom Across Parties
While Democrats and Republicans continue to express different levels of trust in the news media, confidence is now at low levels across all political groups.
Republican trust, which has not exceeded 21% since 2015, has fallen to single digits (8%) for the first time.
Independents have not shown majority trust since 2003, and the latest reading of 27% matches last year’s historic low.
Among Democrats, a narrow majority of 51% now express trust in the media, repeating the low level seen in 2016.
Generational Divide Widens
A pronounced generational gap has emerged in trust in the media, especially over the past decade, according to Gallup’s three-year aggregated data.
From 2023 to 2025, 43% of adults aged 65 and older trusted the media — compared with just 28% or less among younger age groups.
In the early 2000s, all four age groups showed similar trust levels, slightly above 50%. Since then, trust has declined across all groups, but more slowly among older Americans.
Democrats across age groups remain more trusting than Republicans. Among Democrats between 18 and 29 years old, 38% trust the media, compared with 42% among those aged 30–49, 59% among those 50–64, and 69% among those 65 and older.
Independents are less trusting than Democrats but more than Republicans, with older independents expressing the highest confidence. Among Republicans, trust varies little by age, ranging between just 6% and 17%.
Bottom Line
Trust in the media has reached a historic low, with fewer than three in ten Americans expressing confidence in newspapers, television, and radio to report the news fully and fairly.
This decline spans all major political groups. Republican trust has fallen to single digits, independents remain largely skeptical, and Democrats now register only a narrow majority.
The generational divide is striking, with older Americans showing significantly higher trust than younger adults. Given the relatively low confidence among younger Democrats, overall trust may fall even further in the future unless Republican trust rebounds.
As trust fractures along partisan and generational lines, the challenge for media institutions is not only to report fairly and accurately, but also to rebuild credibility among an increasingly polarized and skeptical public.
