New polls find many Americans think the media publishes fake news

The new POLITICO/Morning Consult and the latest Harvard-Harris poll, both of which were revealed on Thursday, present some striking new information. Together these two polls show how Americans currently feel about the News Media, fake news, and President Donald Trump. They also showed what happens when all three of these topics collide in the modern era of American politics.

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll and Trump

According to the new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll almost half of all voters, 46 percent, believe that the news media makes up stories about President Trump and his administration. Out of the rest of the voters polled, 37 percent do not think the media does this, while the remaining 17 percent where undecided.

Among party lines, 76 percent of Republicans believe the media fabricates stories while 11 percent do not. For Democrats 20 percent did and 65 percent did not. 46 percent of Independents think the media makes up stories, while 31 percent do not.

The poll also asked if the government should be able to revoke the broadcast licenses of news organizations as punishment for allegedly making up stories about the president, something that Trump suggested last week. Only 28 percent said the government should have the power to do that while 51 percent disagreed, and the rest were undecided.

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll was conducted between October 12-16, surveying 1,991 registered voters with a sampling error of plus/minus two percentage points.

The Harvard-Harris poll and fake news in the media

The latest Harvard-Harris poll was provided exclusively to The Hill, who reported on its interesting findings. A majority of American voters, just under two-thirds in fact (65 percent), say that they believe that the mainstream press contains a lot of fake news. On top of this 84 percent said that it is difficult to know what news to believe online.

Even when broken down along party lines that number stayed over 50 percent. Republicans led the way with 80 percent polled saying that the mainstream press spews out fake news.

This was followed by 60 percent of Independents and 53 percent of Democrats who said the same.

Mark Penn, the director of the Harvard-Harris poll, echoed this when discussing the results. He said that “much of the media is now just another part of the partisan divide in the country among both major parties." Penn added that “Every major institution from the presidency to the courts is now seen as operating in a partisan fashion in one direction or the other.”

The poll also found that 60 percent of voters believe that President Trump is treating the press unfairly, while 48 percent said it was the other way around. The Harvard-Harris poll was an online survey of 2,006 voters conducted online between May 17-20. Its breakdown was 36 percent Democrat, 32 percent Republican, 29 percent independent, and three percent other.