Monday, May 23, 2011

Americans Trust Fox News Most But Trust Liberal Media More Collectively

Who can you trust? A new poll from Suffolk University in Boston asked people who they trust most for their political news.

Q: What political news source do you trust the most?

SourcePercent
Fox News28%
CNN18%
NBC10%
MSNBC7%
ABC6%
CBS6%
C-SPAN3%
Other10%
Undecided12%

It will come as no surprise to those who follow TV ratings that Fox News is trusted most at 28%. No one other outlet comes close, including other and undecided, but if the liberal media outlets are counted collectively, they come out ahead with 47%.

The same trend carries over to personalities. Bill O'Reilly with the top-rated show leads the list. But all those liberals have a long tail.

Q: What political reporter would you say that you trust the most?

ReporterChannelPercent
Bill O'ReillyFOX9%
Anderson CooperCNN6%
Brian WilliamsNBC4%
Mike HuckabeeFOX4%
Sean HannityFOX4%
Tom BrokawNBC3%
Chris MatthewsMSNBC3%
Wolf BlitzerCNN3%
Katie CouricCBS3%
Diane SawyerABC3%
Rachael MaddowMSNBC2%
Megyn KellyFOX2%
Bob SchiefferCBS1%
Candy CrowleyCNN1%
Christiane AmanpourABC1%
Ed SchultzMSNBC1%
Fareed ZakariaCNN1%
George StephanopoulosABC1%
Glenn BeckFOX1%
Howard KurtzCNN1%
Jon StewartCOM1%
Shepard SmithFOX1%
Campbell BrownCNN0%
David GregoryNBC0%
Elliot SpitzerCNN0%
Joe ScarboroughMSNBC0%
John KingCNN0%
Keith OlbermannCURRENT0%
OtherOther6%
NoneNone15%
Don't KnowDon't Know21%

Zeros like Elliot Spitzer and Keith Olbermann were reported most trusted by no more than a handful of respondents; that was enough to get them on the list, but not enough to register the half percent to round up to 1%. They still beat Piers Morgan, who got nary a mention.

Rachel Maddow right on top of Megyn Kelly? That could be interesting - I'd watch. Mike Huckabee on top of Sean Hannity, that's just sick. If you are still reading, the survey indicates only 1% get their political news from independent political blogs like this one.

Asking who you trust most is a bit loaded. Bill O'Reilly might get my vote if I trust no one, but thinks he's the best of a bad lot. Even Bill O'Reilly finished a distant third to don't know and none. Isn't #6 Tom Brokaw retired?

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