When it boils down to matters of trust, a majority of Americans say they trust the media more than President Trump, according to a new poll.
The Quinnipiac University poll, released on Wednesday, asked participants if the media or Trump "tell you the truth about important issues." The survey said that 52% of voters trust the media, with only 37% saying they trusted Trump more.
Among Democrat voters, 86% said they were more inclined to believe the media than the president, while 78% of Republican voters said that Trump tells them the truth, not the media, according to the poll.
The survey comes after Trump repeated his criticism of the press, calling the "fake news media" the "enemy of the American people" in a Twitter post last week. Trump, who has increasingly called news coverage he does not agree with "fake," has also bashed on polls, tweeting earlier this month, "Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election," in reference to surveys conducted on his controversial travel ban.
The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017
Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election. Sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2017
Trump's attack on the media, as the Quinnipiac poll would suggest, has had a profound effect on the American public.
College-educated white voters and non-college educated white voters, for example, are divided on the trust level question — with 55% of the former trusting the media, compared to 55% of the latter believing Trump more, according to the poll. Nonwhite voters, in sharp contrast to non-college educated white voters, were more inclined to trust the media (68%) about important issues.
"The media, so demonized by the Trump Administration, is actually a good deal more popular than President Trump," Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said about the results.
Quinnipiac's report also suggests:
90% of Americans voters say it is "very important" or "somewhat important" "that the news media hold public officials accountable."
61% of people disapprove the way Trump talks about the media, while 50% of voters disapprove the media's coverage on Trump.
The poll, conducted by Quinnipiac University from Feb. 16-21, surveyed 1,323 voters across the U.S.
