These charts were made from information in a new Quinnipiac University Poll -- done between February 26th and March 2nd of a random national sample of 1,286 registered voters, with a margin of error of 2.7 points.
I've seen some on social media celebrating these results as showing that Americans trust Fox News more than any other news source, and if you just look at that top chart you might be fooled into believing that. When Americans were given six news sources and asked to choose the one they trust the most, Fox News was chosen by 29% -- more than any other news source.
What happened was that Republicans chose the network that parroted the propaganda they wanted to hear. That 29% is about equal to the number of Republicans in the country. But the other 71% (Democrats and Independents) split among the other five news sources, making it impossible for any of them to reach the 29% of Fox (thanks to the unified support of the GOP).
But that doesn't show what the right-wingers want to believe it shows. While it shows the GOP is unified in their love for their propaganda organ, it doesn't show Fox News is the most trusted news source in America.
The second chart is a much better representation of how much trust that Americans have in each of the news sources. That shows the results when poll respondents were asked about each of those sources individually. When each source was considered individually, it turned out that Fox was not the most trusted. In fact, five other sources were trusted more (and mistrusted less) -- local TV news, ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC.
We've always known that Fox News is very popular with right-wing Republicans, but that doesn't make it the most trusted news source in America. That honor, on the national level, goes to ABC and CBS (who tied at 64% -- 9 points more trusted than Fox).
