The mainstream media is the biggest threat to democracy. That's the view of more than half of American voters in a new New York Times/Siena College poll.
Fifty-nine percent of voters see the media as a "major threat to democracy," while 25% consider the press a "minor threat." Only 15% believe the media poses no threat at all. Republican Party voters have an even more negative perception: 87% see the media as a major threat, compared to just 33% of Democrat voters.
A vast majority of Hispanic voters view the mainstream media as a threat to Democracy: 66% believe the threat is major, and 22% rate it as a minor threat.
Overall, 71% of voters believe that democracy is under threat for this and other reasons, a proportion that is similar across the spectrum of voters (Republicans, Democrats and independents).
Trust in the media remains near historic lows
Another recent Gallup poll revealed that Americans' trust in the media remains near an all-time low. Just 36% of voters believe that the media report "completely, accurately and impartially," just two points above their lowest-recorded tally (during the 2016 presidential campaign).
In fact, according to Gallup, this is the first time that the percentage of Americans who do not trust the media at all is higher than those who have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the media. Only 7% of Americans reported having "a great deal" of confidence in the media, while 27% answered "quite a lot." In contrast, 28% of respondents said they do not trust the media very much and 38% responded that they do not trust it at all.
Democratic Party voters trust the media the most. Seventy percent of Democrats say they are very or somewhat confident versus 27% of independents and just 14% of Republicans.
