Gallup Poll: Republicans and Independents Think Media Skews Left

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Gallup News Service has just released a new poll that supports what we here say every day; the Media is perceived as left leaning. Yet, for a report on how the media leans left, titling their piece "Republicans Remain Deeply Distrustful of News Media" and subtitling it "Democrats much more positive," even Gallup's article seems to skew left. After all, when the poll results are reviewed it shows that both Republicans and independents are "distrustful of the media," not just Republicans. And that fact would tend to show that more people think that the media is leftist than don't. Gallup's opening statement is interesting:

PRINCETON, NJ -- Republicans in America today remain deeply distrustful of the national news media -- in sharp contrast to Democrats, who have a great deal more trust in the media's accuracy. Overall, less than half of Americans, regardless of partisanship, have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the mass media. Nearly half of Americans -- including over three-quarters of Republicans -- perceive the media as too liberal while fewer than one in five say the media are too conservative.

Less than half the total polled have trust in the media? Imagine that! But, why did Gallup want to spin this story as focussed on Republicans who distrust the media? The more honest headline would have been: "Less than 1/2 of Americans Trust Media." Of media bias, Gallup says:

One reason for this general distrust of the media is the fact that only about a third of Americans today say that the news media are "just about right" when it comes to ideological balance. More than twice as many Americans say the news media are too liberal (45%) rather than too conservative (18%).

I'm surprised even a third of Americans think the media gets it right. If anyone was paying attention, that should be a way lower number! But, then again, only a third of Americans thought the American Revolution was the right thing to do in the 1770s! So, we can assume that one third of any group is always going to be way off the mark of what is good and right apparently. It's that human nature and all. It is also interesting to see Gallup stats that those who claim the media is too conservative is growing. It is a very small growth, but a growth none-the-less. And guess where it is growing? Among Democrats, naturally. It looks like the truthers who believe such nonsense, though, make up only 18% of those polled. By contrast, in 2001, 11% thought the media was too conservative. So, while the truthers have grown, they are still a small percentage of the total.

And of the Democrats polled, it shows that the truthers are only 22% of them. This shows that the truthers are a small amount of the total number and that is somewhat good news at least. So, all told, it's no surprise that more people think the media is biased leftward than otherwise. We prove it here everyday!

UPDATE: The "How the Public Views the Media" section of the MRC's "Media Bias Basics" summarizes a dozen polls documenting how the public recognize the leftward tilt of the news media -- including, from July, "Rasmussen Poll: By 2-to-1, Nets Biased to Left; FNC Less Biased;" and from August, "Pew: Most See Media as Liberal, More Trust Military than Media on Iraq."