Americans’ trust in the news media has plummeted to an unprecedented low, according to a series of new polls released this week. Only 28% of U.S. adults say they have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in newspapers, television, and radio to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly—a figure that marks the lowest level Gallup has ever recorded since it began tracking media confidence in the 1970s.
That 28% figure, reported by Gallup after a survey conducted from September 2 to September 16, 2025, is down from 31% last year and represents a dramatic drop from the 68% to 72% of Americans who expressed trust in the media in the early 1970s. The decline is not only historic, but also deeply entrenched: trust has not surpassed the 50% mark since 2004, and the last decade’s highest point—45% in 2018—now feels like a distant memory. The findings were published on October 2, 2025, and have since sparked widespread debate about the future of journalism in America.
What’s driving this crisis of confidence? The data points to a complex mix of political polarization, generational divides, and changing media habits. According to Gallup, about 70% of adults now express skepticism toward the news media, with 36% saying they have “not very much” trust and 34% reporting “none at all.” The erosion of trust is evident across all major demographic and political groups, but the partisan split is especially stark.
Republicans’ trust in the media has sunk to a mere 8%—the lowest level ever recorded for the party and a figure that has not exceeded 21% since 2015, the year Donald Trump began his first presidential campaign. The percentage of Republicans who say they have “no trust at all” in the media has soared from less than 30% in 2015 to 62% in 2025, according to the Gallup data cited by multiple outlets, including Axios and The Hollywood Reporter. The roots of this distrust are deep, with many analysts pointing to Trump’s persistent efforts to delegitimize traditional news outlets as “fake news,” as well as his legal battles and settlements with major networks during his second term.
Democrats, while historically more trusting of the media, are not immune to the trend. Just 51% of Democrats now express a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media—a slim majority that matches the low point seen during the tumultuous 2016 election. Over the past three years, trust among Democrats has fallen by a staggering 19 percentage points, while Republicans’ trust has dropped by 6 points. Independents, too, are skeptical: their trust has not reached majority levels since 2003, and now sits at 27%, matching last year’s historical low.
Generational differences further complicate the picture. Older adults aged 65 and above are far more likely to trust the media, with 43% expressing confidence, compared to no more than 28% in any younger age group. In the early 2000s, Americans across all age brackets reported similar levels of trust—just above 50%—but the gap has widened considerably since then. Among Democrats, trust rises with age: 38% of those aged 18 to 29 trust the media, compared to 69% of those 65 and older. For independents, older adults also report higher confidence, while among Republicans, trust remains uniformly low across age groups, ranging from 6% to 17%.
Gallup’s poll, which surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults and carries a margin of error of four percentage points at the 95% confidence level, is not alone in highlighting these trends. The Hollywood Reporter, in partnership with intelligence firm Morning Consult, conducted a separate survey of 2,202 U.S. adults to assess trust in individual news anchors. The results offer a glimmer of hope for the industry: while trust in “the media” as an institution is at rock bottom, Americans are far more likely to trust specific journalists and anchors they recognize.
For example, about 60% of respondents said they have “a lot” or “some” trust in Anderson Cooper, the prominent CNN and CBS News anchor. Every one of the 80-plus news anchors surveyed by The Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult had at least 36% of Americans expressing trust in them, with many scoring in the 40%, 50%, or even 60% range. Al Roker of Today was rated the most trusted, with ABC News’s David Muir close behind. The least trusted? NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo, though even he surpassed the baseline trust figure for the media as a whole.
This “local congressperson effect,” as some analysts have dubbed it, suggests that while Americans are deeply skeptical of the media in the abstract, they are more nuanced—and in some cases, more forgiving—when it comes to familiar faces. It’s easier to criticize a faceless institution than a specific person you watch every night. This effect is especially pronounced for Fox News personalities, whose trust ratings rose the most collectively during Trump’s second term, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Still, the broader trend remains alarming for news organizations. As Gallup’s analysis put it, “With confidence fractured along partisan and generational lines, the challenge for news organizations is not only to deliver fair and accurate reporting but also to regain credibility across an increasingly polarized and skeptical public.” The trust gap is not just a statistical oddity—it has real-world implications for civic discourse, public accountability, and the health of American democracy.
Some observers argue that the decline in trust reflects a media landscape that has become more fragmented, partisan, and sensationalized. Others point to the rise of social media, which allows misinformation to spread rapidly and gives audiences the power to curate their own news diets, often reinforcing existing biases. The traditional model of sitting down for an hour of uninterrupted news is, for most Americans, a thing of the past. Instead, news comes in fragments—clips, tweets, and viral posts—making the idea of “fully, accurately, and fairly” reporting seem almost quaint.
Yet, if there’s a silver lining, it’s that Americans still value individual journalists and anchors who earn their trust. The challenge for media organizations, then, may be to foster those personal connections while working to rebuild institutional credibility—no easy task in a climate where skepticism is the norm and polarization runs deep.
As the nation heads into another contentious election cycle and faces ongoing debates over the role of the press, the question of who Americans trust to deliver the news—and why—will remain at the heart of the national conversation. For now, the numbers don’t lie: trust in the media is at a crossroads, and the road ahead is anything but certain.
