Edelmann is a huge marketing and public relations firm with offices all over the world. Each year they publish worldwide survey data to gauge the public’s trust in their country’s media, government, and job market.
Their new 21st Annual Edelman Trust Barometer details how trust in the US media has plummetted to historic lows. They also claim that trust levels among Trump voters completely crashed after the election.
After the election, trust in the media plunged from 33% to 18% among Trump voters. Trust in Government fell from 46% to 30%.
They claim there is a 39 point “trust gap,” when it comes to the media, between those who voted for Trump and those who voted for Biden. This trust gap increases to 42 points when asked about Journalists.
Meanwhile, 56% of Americans agree with the statement that “Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.” An even higher 58% think that “most news organizations are more concerned with supporting an ideology or political position than with informing the public.”
According to Edelmann, people in the UK, Italy, Spain, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Columbia have even less trust in their media than Americans do.
Note: In the charts below, the small numbers are the net gain or loss when comparing survey data taken before and after the election.
