It’s a well-documented fact that a majority of Americans aren’t happy with their choices for president — a majority say they would rather vote for a third-party candidate than either the Democratic or Republican nominees, and most simply do not like Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.
Yet, as it turns out, more people like Clinton or Trump than people like the news media.
In a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 450 people were asked what they thought of politicians and political institutions. The poll found more people have a favorable opinion of Trump and Clinton than people have of the media.
Only 4 percent of respondents said they had a “very positive” opinion of the news media. By contrast, 15 percent had a high opinion of Trump and 18 percent did of Clinton.
The news media hasn’t been well-liked for quite some time. The percentage of those surveyed who say they have a very favorable opinion of the media has remained in the single digits since 1995.
When “very positive” and “somewhat positive” options are lumped together, Clinton garners a 37 percent support, Trump clocks in at 28 percent, and the news media gets a mere 19 percent of support in both categories.
These abysmal approval ratings didn’t exactly come out of left field. Disillusionment towards reporters has been growing for quite some time. A survey conducted by the First Amendment Center/USA Today last year found that 70 percent of Americans believe the news media is biased on purpose — an opinion the media have reinforced by using snarky chyrons and employing double standards time and time again.
