Most Americans See Media as Biggest Threat to Democracy

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Dox47
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19 Oct 2022, 2:29 pm

NEW POLL: Most Americans See Media as Bigger Threat to Democracy Than Electoral College, Supreme Court, Biden or Even Trump

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Registered voters have demonstrated in multiple recent polls a concern that democracy is under threat in the United States. But a new New York Times/Siena poll shows that the direction of that threat is not singular, or even partisan. In fact, among the voters who expressed that concern, more agreed the media was a threat than agreed on any other source individually, including President Joe Biden, ex-president Donald Trump, Republicans as a party, Democrats as a party, or even just the federal government generically.

The poll conducted October 9-12 was taken just before the final January 6 committee hearing, but during the height of campaign messaging from both parties ahead of the November midterm elections.

The NYT/Sienna result was broadly devastating news for Democrats, with inflation and the economy a dominant concern. Appearing on MSNBC on Tuesday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi literally dismissed the poll’s finding that Republicans have the edge, insisting that abortion is the number one issue.

“I dismiss that,” she said to Andrea Mitchell.

Although it did not come up in that interview, it is likely Pelosi would also dismiss the poll’s finding that more registered voters see Democrats as a threat to democracy than see Republicans as one.

The Washington Post‘s Aaron Blake noted that it is not mere partisan bias pushing that number, as “independents are significantly more likely to view Democrats as a major threat than Republicans.”

But as Fox News’s Joseph Wulfsohn pointed out, there’s an even bigger villain in the crosstabs: the media. Wulfsohn highliughted that, “Among those who fear for democracy, 84% of them, or roughly 60% of all registered voters, view “mainstream media” as some sort of threat.”

Among registered voters and likely voters, 59% see the mainstream media as a major threat and 24% a minor threat. That beats Trump, Biden, the Supreme Court, and the other answers.

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That means even among Democrats, 70% see the MSM as a threat to democracy.

Aaron Blake argued in his Washington Post analysis that Democrats have failed to “make 2022 about the threat to democracy.” Essentially, Blake argues that the Democrats have been ineffective, especially in individual races across the country, at convincing voters about the threat to the very Democratic process posed by the GOP at large — a key talking point among Democratic leaders and pundits, and echoed daily by the mainstream press.

In the abstract it’s true that the noted intent among Democratic leadership to get that message across seems unrealized. But the argument that Democrats failed to make the election “about the threat to democracy” could be slightly off-point.

It might be more accurate to say that Democrats and the media have indeed made the election in large part about the threat to democracy. They just didn’t anticipate where voters will think that threat is originating.

Read the likely voter crosstabs here, or the New York Times analysis here


NYT Voter Crosstabs

NYT Analysis

Welp, sure looks like the country at large isn't being fooled and is becoming increasingly savvy about our biased partisan media, which sure warms the cockles of a long time media skeptic such as myself. Also looks pretty grim for the Dems going into the midterms, doesn't look like their messaging is sticking and the general public isn't buying what they're selling regarding Trump, the GOP, or the Supreme Court, which is nice. For the skeptics in the audience, notice who the poll was conducted by and draw your own conclusions.


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Dox47
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19 Oct 2022, 2:36 pm

Supporting Poll:

Gallup Records Highest Ever Level of Americans With No Trust At All in Mass Media

Quote:
A new Gallup poll tracking Americans’ trust in mass media, published Tuesday, painted a bleak picture of the state of confidence in the media and highlighted a stark partisan divide.

For the first time since the poll began in 1972, more Americans chose “None at all” to describe their trust in mass media. While 34 percent of respondents chose “Great deal/Fair amount,” which is unchanged since last year and a two-point improvement from the record low of 2016, 38 percent chose “None at all” – a 4 point bump since last year.

Those respondents who chose “Not very much” to describe their trust in the mass media to report the news “fully, accurately and fairly” remained at 28 percent, virtually unchanged since 2017.
Americans' Trust in Mass Media, 1972-2022

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“This is the first time that the percentage of Americans with no trust at all in the media is higher than the percentage with a great deal or a fair amount combined,” noted the poll’s summary.

Broken down by partisan affiliation the numbers become even starker as the fall in Republicans’ trust in the mass media in the last 20 years is momentous.

“Americans’ trust in the media remains sharply polarized along partisan lines, with 70% of Democrats, 14% of Republicans, and 27% of independents saying they have a great deal or fair amount of confidence,” notes the poll’s summary, adding:

There has been a consistent double-digit gap in trust between Democrats and Republicans since 2001, and that gap has ranged from 54 to 63 percentage points since 2017.


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The historical graph shows that in 2002, 49 percent of Republicans still had a “great deal/Fair amount of trust and confidence in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly.” In 2022, that number had plummeted to just 14 percent.

Gallup’s Megan Brenan summarized the poll’s findings in the wider context of other recent surveys. “Americans’ confidence in the media has been anemic for nearly two decades, and Gallup’s latest findings further document that distrust. The current level of public trust in the media’s full, fair and accurate reporting of the news is the second lowest on record,” Brenan noted, adding:

This new confidence reading follows Gallup’s historically low confidence in both TV news and newspapers in June and a new low in December’s annual rating of the honesty and ethics of television reporters. Newspaper reporters received similarly low ratings in the same poll.


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Sweetleaf
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19 Oct 2022, 2:39 pm

Isn't the NYT mainstream media?

Perhaps you should find a non-media source, since the media is not to be trusted.


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19 Oct 2022, 3:58 pm

I actually agree with the above title statement, though the education system has been used now for a few generations from when they first started the brainwashing teaching methods in schools. (I can share links if one has the patience to listen to lengthy Youtube clips).

I am glad that most Americans can now see it as it has been going on for years.

We have the same in the UK.


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20 Oct 2022, 12:38 am

Quote:
The decline of American journalism has been realized by reporters and editors acting as partisan foot soldiers instead of watchdogs. This is not the free press envisioned by the Founding Fathers or taught by my journalism mentor.


https://drrichswier.com/2021/12/01/the- ... integrity/



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20 Oct 2022, 2:26 am

I think it's telling that essentially freedom of the press, which is a cornerstone of liberty, is seen as a threat to that liberty. It's not the press or the media that's a danger to freedom, it's the perception that it is that's the threat.
And yes, I'll say it, it was Trump with all his bashing of the media that's setting the tone for a future America without freedom. He didn't start it, but he certainly helped to give such fringe beliefs legitimacy.


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Dox47
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20 Oct 2022, 3:36 am

Sweetleaf wrote:
Isn't the NYT mainstream media?

Perhaps you should find a non-media source, since the media is not to be trusted.


They're less likely to be lying when they're forced to report stories that go against their interests, such as this one.


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20 Oct 2022, 4:44 am

Nevertheless….Trump did instigate an insurrection in the Capitol Building.

Trumps any opinion poll.



cyberdad
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20 Oct 2022, 4:47 am

Kraichgauer wrote:
I'll say it, it was Trump with all his bashing of the media that's setting the tone for a future America without freedom. He didn't start it, but he certainly helped to give such fringe beliefs legitimacy.


^^^ This. The 75 million who voted for him knew his irrational conspiracies and his attack on the free press. When you vote for Trump because he's (supposedly) protecting democracy that also includes the free press.

Cancel culture "republican style" means stopping investigative journalism into their criminal activities and their blatant lies about voter fraud



Lace-Bane
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20 Oct 2022, 10:09 am

cyberdad wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
I'll say it, it was Trump with all his bashing of the media that's setting the tone for a future America without freedom. He didn't start it, but he certainly helped to give such fringe beliefs legitimacy.


^^^ This. The 75 million who voted for him knew his irrational conspiracies and his attack on the free press. When you vote for Trump because he's (supposedly) protecting democracy that also includes the free press.

Cancel culture "republican style" means stopping investigative journalism into their criminal activities and their blatant lies about voter fraud
this is something that has been going on long before 2016, as it’s only one piece of the phenomenon of the experimental nature of the net that warps perception neurotic of the realities outside one’s front door in a way that threats, and revulsions, are experienced as far larger than life, with funneled tunnel vision more narrow than the finest razor. unlike offline, one can wander seeking the most carbon copy of minds for virtually uncontested echo chambers to reaffirm their beliefs and ever excuse their failings, while the algorithms shoehorn the trends of the common to the point it’s often difficult to find what one is really searching for without a fair bit of patience. compounded, you have social media, and user content uploading/streaming services engineered to tickle the common’s vanities as if celebrities, or infamous super villains in the case of budding murderers, with their augmented followings of bots, plus journalism that has lost it’s way in realization that formulaically framing a narrative devoid of specific facts is still truth, but manufactures fevered fearful clicks, along with those of contempt, which are far more lucrative than reporting the full dry story... it’s mutually beneficial amongst such businesses anyway, because it means those with even half a brain will read it on multiple outlets for a fuller scope of the truth.

manipulatively fear-mongering and divisive journalism for profit isn’t much better than that controlled by a government, it’s just big business that holds the peoples minds’ reigns. if a peer spoke with such lack of transparency as the media, they’d be shunned as liars by the group.


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20 Oct 2022, 11:47 am

Dox47 wrote:
Welp, sure looks like the country at large isn't being fooled and is becoming increasingly savvy about our biased partisan media, which sure warms the cockles of a long time media skeptic such as myself. Also looks pretty grim for the Dems going into the midterms, doesn't look like their messaging is sticking and the general public isn't buying what they're selling regarding Trump, the GOP, or the Supreme Court, which is nice. For the skeptics in the audience, notice who the poll was conducted by and draw your own conclusions.


I dunno, time will tell who gets elected in midterms.. but there's certainly no indication of landslide republican victories all over the map due to Dem party messaging.

As for not buying what they're selling regarding trump, gop, scotus -> you mean all the facts and evidence being presented by congress & courts about their respective crimes? :? I haven't watched/listened to the most recent J6 hearing myself, but, have you watched them ? Kinda hard to watch them and say it's all just a smoke show presented by trump haters.. especially when almost all of the witnesses are republicans and former trump appointees and employees. Further, even the committee is bipartisan, sooo.. it's not 'them dems lyin bout trump,' and more like 'here's the crap he pulled that we know about, see the evidence and testimonies with your own eyes and ears.'


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cyberdad
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20 Oct 2022, 4:10 pm

Lace-Bane wrote:
cyberdad wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
I'll say it, it was Trump with all his bashing of the media that's setting the tone for a future America without freedom. He didn't start it, but he certainly helped to give such fringe beliefs legitimacy.


^^^ This. The 75 million who voted for him knew his irrational conspiracies and his attack on the free press. When you vote for Trump because he's (supposedly) protecting democracy that also includes the free press.

Cancel culture "republican style" means stopping investigative journalism into their criminal activities and their blatant lies about voter fraud
this is something that has been going on long before 2016, as it’s only one piece of the phenomenon of the experimental nature of the net that warps perception neurotic of the realities outside one’s front door in a way that threats, and revulsions, are experienced as far larger than life, with funneled tunnel vision more narrow than the finest razor. unlike offline, one can wander seeking the most carbon copy of minds for virtually uncontested echo chambers to reaffirm their beliefs and ever excuse their failings, while the algorithms shoehorn the trends of the common to the point it’s often difficult to find what one is really searching for without a fair bit of patience. compounded, you have social media, and user content uploading/streaming services engineered to tickle the common’s vanities as if celebrities, or infamous super villains in the case of budding murderers, with their augmented followings of bots, plus journalism that has lost it’s way in realization that formulaically framing a narrative devoid of specific facts is still truth, but manufactures fevered fearful clicks, along with those of contempt, which are far more lucrative than reporting the full dry story... it’s mutually beneficial amongst such businesses anyway, because it means those with even half a brain will read it on multiple outlets for a fuller scope of the truth.

manipulatively fear-mongering and divisive journalism for profit isn’t much better than that controlled by a government, it’s just big business that holds the peoples minds’ reigns. if a peer spoke with such lack of transparency as the media, they’d be shunned as liars by the group.


I agree, But Trump's presidency gave credence to openly stating what previously flew under the radar. You now have emboldened republicans openly fighting progressives in virtually every sector of society which is unprecedented. This hasn't happened since white mobs tried terrorising little black children going to school.