A new result from Gallup’s polling shows that Americans’ trust in the media, simply to report news fully, accurately and fairly, has plummeted.
A record-low 28% of Americans trust the media a great deal or fair amount to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. pic.twitter.com/bwOyygz9JS
— Gallup (@Gallup) October 2, 2025
It revealed a record-low 28% said they trust the media a great deal or fair amount to do that job.
And social media immediately went snarky.
“Alternative headline: ‘28% of Americans are stupid,'” said one. Another; “Coincidentally, 28% of Americans are retards.”
Brand new @Gallup poll. This must be fixed to have a more robust democracy. And the only one who can fix this absolute collapse in media trust is…wait for it…the media. By the way, Democrat trust is also tied for the all-time low. Lack of confidence is bipartisan. pic.twitter.com/MMcJoJX22e
— John Stoll (@JohnStoll1977) October 2, 2025
— John Stoll (@JohnStoll1977) October 2, 2025
A commentary at Twitchy said, “When it comes to credibility, the legacy media has been working on sawing off the same branch they’re sitting on for decades now, and that limb finally has snapped off and is plunging toward the ground with the MSM still clinging to it.”
It continued, “Along the way, the public trust in media has been dropping right along with them.”
It cited the media’s service to one political party “as propagandists.”
That 28% figure is down three points from just a year ago, and down from 40% just five years ago.
The Hill confirmed, “A total of 7-in-10 adults expressed skepticism in the news media, indicating they have ‘not very much’ trust in news outlets or ‘none at all.'”
The report added, “Trust in media has never been particularly high among those in the GOP, Gallup found, noting the number of Republicans who indicated they trusted media outlets has not risen above 20 percent since 2015, the year President Donald Trump first ran for the White House.”
Gallup’s analysis said, “With confidence fractured along partisan and generational lines, the challenge for news organizations is not only to deliver fair and accurate reporting but also to regain credibility across an increasingly polarized and skeptical public.”
The results come at a time when vast majorities of Americans in various groups get most of their news from social media, online sources and the like.
Also, it comes after a time frame of years in which legacy media have been caught over and over pushing the Democrats’ political agenda, as reflected by multiple huge settlements the organizations have paid out recently to President Donald Trump, who sued over their bias.
