Survey Says: News Media More Trusted Than Trump

A plurality of respondents in a new Morning Consult/Politico poll say the news media is more trustworthy than the President who constantly attacks them.

A majority also found President Donald Trump to be reckless (60%), sexist (54%), and thin skinned (51%), and a plurality (47%) say he is racist (versus 39% who say he isn't).

But the poll also found that the President's approval rating is 45%, the highest it has been in three months and up from 42% in the October Morning Consult/Politico poll.

It may be some comfort to news media incessantly hammered by the President as "fake" and "enemies" that more respondents trusted them (45%) than trusted the President (35%).

The political divide on that question was stark. Two thirds of Republicans (67%) said they trusted the President over the media, while only 8% of Democrats said so.

A solid majority (58%) said the President either never tells the truth (33%) or only sometimes (25%).

The online poll was conducted Dec.1-3 among 1,997 registered voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 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.