How trustworthy do Utahns find the media? Given the stunning result from the just-completed election, that seems to be a very apt question.
Our newest UtahPolicy.com survey shows nearly 2/3 (61%) of Utahns say the media is either “somewhat” or “very” untrustworthy. Just 28% say the media is trustworthy, while 9% have no feelings about the media either way.
The Dan Jones & Associates survey was conducted before Donald Trump pulled off his stunning victory on Tuesday night, but the results certainly resonate following Donald Trump’s completely unexpected victory. For months, pundits, pollsters, and so-called political experts gave the real estate tycoon little to no chance to win the White House. That all came crashing down on Tuesday as Trump shocked everyone to pull off the win.
The Republicans who were interviewed for our survey overwhelmingly found the media to be untrustworthy. 76% said the media was unreliable, while just 16% said the media could be trusted.
2/3 of the Democrats (66%) who responded to our survey said the media was trustworthy. About the same number of political independents (64%) say the media is not reliable.
Distrust of the press is nearly constant across all of the age groups we interviewed.
- 61% of 18-24-year-old Utahns say the media is untrustworthy.
- 64% of 25-34-year-old Utahns don’t trust the media to tell them the truth.
- 65% of those between 35-44 call the media untrustworthy.
- 59% of middle-aged Utahns, those between 45 and 54, say the media is untrustworthy.
- 62% between 55 and 64 don’t think the media tells the truth.
- 59% of Utahns who are of retirement age (65+) also say the media is not trustworthy.
The Dan Jones & Associates survey was conducted October 12-18, 2016 among 812 Utahns. It has a margin of error +/- 3.43%.
