Poll: Trump More Truthful Than Media

President Donald Trump Wednesday tweeted an Emerson College poll that found more registered voters say the media is not telling the truth than say the same about the new President's Administration.

"'Trump administration seen as more truthful than news media'" the President quoted, with a link to the study.

According to the study, 48% of voters say the Administration is untruthful, while 53% say the media is not telling the truth—only 39% say the media is truthful. Although given the margin of error, the more accurate takeaway is that roughly an equal number, which is roughly half, of respondents found both untruthful.

Trump has been heavily criticized in the media for inaccuracies, while he has shot back at his accusers, calling them "fake news."

The truthful/untruthful answers diverge widely by political affiliation, with 89% of Republicans saying the Trump Administration is truthful while 77% of Democrats say it is untruthful.

As for the news media, 69% of Democrats say it is truthful, while more than nine out of 10 Republicans (91%) say they are not telling the truth.

The poll was conducted Feb. 5-6 among 617 registered voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.