Last year, trust in the news hit an all-time low in the United States, with only 31 percent of American adults expressing trust and confidence in mass media, according to Gallup.
Since the question was first asked in 1972, levels of trust have significantly declined from 68 percent.
Despite this disheartening trend, Statista’s Anna Fleck reveals that a recent survey by Pew Research Center conducted between March 10 and 16, 2025 shows a shift in perception. U.S. adults are now more inclined to trust information from news organizations compared to the previous year…
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According to Pew, this change is primarily driven by an increase in trust among Republicans following the return of U.S. President Donald Trump to the White House. It’s important to note that caution should be exercised when comparing different survey data due to variations in question wording and methodologies.
In the Pew Research Center survey, 67 percent of respondents stated they had some or a lot of trust in national news organizations in 2025, marking a nine-point increase from 2024. Among voters identifying with the Democratic Party, 81 percent expressed trust in national news organizations in 2025, while only 53 percent of Republican-leaning voters shared the same sentiment.
Local news organizations continued to garner higher levels of trust and confidence overall, with 80 percent of all adults indicating trust in such outlets in 2025, up by six percentage points from 2024. Democratic Party supporters exhibited higher trust levels in local news organizations compared to Republicans, with 87 percent versus 75 percent. The trust gap between the two groups for local news outlets was 12 percentage points, contrasting with the wider 28-point gap for national news outlets.
However, the topic presents additional complexities. While Democratic Party voters displayed higher trust levels in news outlets, a separate Pew Research Center survey highlighted a shift in concerns about press freedoms among Democrats since 2024. The percentage of Democrats expressing extreme or very high concern about potential press freedom restrictions in the U.S. rose from 38 percent to 60 percent. On the other hand, the figure decreased among Republicans from 47 percent to 28 percent. This change among Democrats can be partly attributed to more respondents believing that news organizations are significantly influenced by government interests, increasing from 77 percent in 2024 to 84 percent in 2025.
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