The Associated Press acknowledged that over half of Americans lack trust in mainstream media’s coverage of the 2024 presidential election.
According to a recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, 53% of respondents expressed being “extremely” or “very concerned” about news organizations reporting inaccuracies or misinformation during the election, Just the News reported, citing the survey data.
Almost half of the respondents (47%) also indicated they are “extremely or very concerned” about news outlets not verifying or fact-checking information before publishing it, and 44% expressed concern about news being presented in a biased manner.
“The level of engagement is good,” Michael Bolden, CEO of the American Press Institute which helped with the poll, told the AP. “The thing that’s most concerning is that they’re not sure they can actually trust the information.”
The poll also showed that older adults, aged 60 and above, are more likely to get their news from formal publications, whereas young adults are equally inclined to get their news from social media or friends as they are from news outlets, the survey found.
According to the poll, older adults exhibit greater engagement with the presidential election compared to younger adults. While two-thirds of older adults are following the presidential election, only one-third of adults under 30 are doing so. Similarly, on the local and state level, nearly half of older respondents closely monitor news about local and state elections, whereas only 16% of adults aged 18-29 report the same level of engagement.
“As they transition to becoming older people, will they begin to care?” Bolden asked. “If they don’t begin to care, what will that mean for local and state communities?”
The respondents also expressed concern about the type of coverage being reported, with many worried that the coverage would focus too heavily on controversial and divisive topics or on who wins and loses rather than on the issues and character of the candidates.
The AP’s survey follows NPR senior editor Uri Berliner’s admission that a majority of Americans also don’t trust that taxpayer-supported organization.
