Poll: Support for Bumbling, Dishonest Media Plummets During Pandemic

July 30th, 2020 10:26 AM

MediaJournalists think the pandemic has been bad for Donald Trump? Maybe they should look in the mirror. The coronavirus has hit the press from one coast to the other, according to a new poll released early Thursday.

The survey asked respondents: “How has your view of each of the following industries changed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic?" The approval of the media dropped five percent, second only to airlines, which shed seven percent.

According to an article written by Sara Fischer, a media reporter for the Axios website:

The public's view of almost every industry has improved since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new Axios/Harris poll.

Industries with a prominent role in life under quarantine have seen especially big jumps.

Fischer stated: “Businesses in America were already undergoing a transformation from being solely focused on profits to being focused on values as well.” The pandemic “has expedited that shift,” she noted, “and consumers are responding favorably to it.”

The reporter explained that the survey “ranks the top 100 companies based on consumers' scores across seven qualities: affinity (trust), citizenship, ethics, culture, vision, growth and products and services.” Nevertheless, affinity is weighted higher than all other categories, Fischer stated. 

Charlie Nash, a reporter for the Mediaite website, indicated in an article on the poll that airlines narrowly beat the media in unfavorability. Those industries were the only two to lose favor with the public since oil gained six percent and financial services were up seven percent.

Consumer-packaged goods companies that focus on cleaning and kids, like Clorox, Hersey's, Disney and Procter & Gamble Co., ranked in the top 25, while streaming businesses like Netflix, Hulu and Disney also landed in that level due to the streaming offerings they provide to consumers stuck at home. 

Next were the pharmacies, such as Walgreens and CVS, both of which scored well on consumer trust, culture and ethics.

At the bottom of the list were telecom, social media and airlines industries, which hit the last 20 entries. Sharing the cellar were airline companies like Boeing and United Airlines, with social companies like Twitter and Facebook in the bottom 10