From January 21-28, 2025, Embold Research and Change Research conducted a poll among 1,759 registered voters nationwide to better understand how people receive and process news information. As part of this research, Embold and Change Research sought to explore how voters view specific, prominent news outlets, ranging from the New York Times to FOX News, to better understand how voters navigate the news media they come across in their daily lives.
We asked about the following national news sources to understand voters’ perspectives:
|
|
Voters do not see any of the most prominent news sources today as particularly trustworthy. Out of the news sources tested, NPR (46%) and the Wall Street Journal (46%) garner the most trust, yet both still are only trusted by a minority of voters. However, 33% consider NPR to be untrustworthy, and 34% distrust the Wall Street Journal. The least trusted sources among those tested are conservative bulwarks: only a third of voters find FOX News (34%) or Joe Rogan (33%) to be at least somewhat trustworthy. Additionally, FOX News is the most distrusted: 60% of voters say that the outlet is at least “somewhat untrustworthy,” including 45% who believe that FOX News is “very untrustworthy.”
Trustworthiness is heavily informed by partisanship: Democrats show high trust in center- to left-leaning outlets like NPR (71%), MSNBC (61%), CNN (58%) and the New York Times (57%), while showing virtually no trust toward right-leaning sources like FOX News (8%) and Joe Rogan (4%). Conversely, Republicans demonstrate substantial trust in Joe Rogan’s reporting (66%) and FOX News (64%), while few consider the left-leaning networks MSNBC (13%) and CNN (14%) to be trustworthy. In contrast to both Democrats and Republicans, none of the news sources tested were trusted by a majority of Independents.
In that same vein, few voters indicated that any of the most prominent news sources today are respectful towards people like themselves. Voters consider NPR (47%) and The Wall Street Journal (43%) to be the most respectful toward people like them. FOX News (37%) and Joe Rogan (37%) are the sources least viewed as respectful. A majority of voters (55%) actively consider FOX News to be disrespectful and the network is seen as “very disrespectful” toward people like them by 42% of people – far higher than other news sources, including Joe Rogan (30%).
TV is prospective donors’ primary news source– including local and national channels. The reliance on TV news is largely driven by those over 50, but notably, those under 50 report getting more of their information from other sources like podcasts (42% of men under 50 and 36% of women under 50) and social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The diverging media consumption habits here indicate that the ways in which nonprofits connect with younger generations of donors will need to keep evolving to effectively meet them where they are.
Perceptions of respect vary heavily by partisan identity. Strong majorities of Democrats believe that MSNBC (71%), NPR (69%), and CNN (67%) are respectful sources; but very few believe the same of Fox News (7%) and Joe Rogan (8%). Conversely, Republicans consider FOX News (70%) and Rogan (69%) to be most respectful toward them of all sources tested, while left-leaning outlets like CNN (14%) and MSNBC (13%) are the least likely to be considered respectful. At the same time, no majority of Independent voters considers any news sources tested to be respectful toward them.
Majorities of voters consider almost all of the most prominent media outlets to be at least somewhat, if not very biased. The only news source not considered biased by a majority of voters is NPR (43% biased); however, 22% of voters are unsure whether or not NPR is biased. Perceptions of bias are prevalent on both sides of the partisan spectrum: FOX News (78%), CNN (73%), and MSNBC (70%) are all considered biased by a significant majority of voters. Like the measures of trust and respect, perceptions are influenced by partisanship. Additionally, significant portions of Independents believe that nearly all sources tested are “very biased.”
Taking all tested factors into consideration, NPR gets slightly higher marks than most. Just under half of voters consider NPR to be at least somewhat trustworthy (46%) and respectful (47%). At the same time, a quarter of voters are unsure whether or not NPR is trustworthy (25%) or respectful (25%). NPR is the most likely to be considered unbiased (36%), however, more voters believe that NPR is biased (43%), and a significant portion of voters are unsure either way (21%). The positive perception of NPR largely comes from Democrats and Independents. Few Republican voters believe NPR to be trustworthy (23%), respectful (24%), or unbiased (14%).
FOX News gets the lowest overall marks on trust, respect, and bias. Among all voters, relatively few believe FOX News to be trustworthy (34%), respectful of people like them (37%), or unbiased (17%). However, strong majorities of Republicans consider FOX to be both trustworthy (64%) and respectful toward people like them (70%). At the same time, 62% of Republicans also believe FOX news to be biased, including 21% who say that the network is “very biased.” Vast majorities of Democrats, as well as significant proportions of Independents, hold very negative views of FOX.
Out of all sources tested, The Wall Street Journal receives the most bipartisan alignment. Though partisan gaps still exist, partisan differences in the perception of The Wall Street Journal are small compared to other tested news sources. Democrats are the most likely to consider The Wall Street Journal to be trustworthy (51%), respectful (47%), and lacking bias (27%). Sizable proportions of Republicans also feel positively about The Journal: 43% believe it is trustworthy, 39% believe it’s respectful, and 21% say that it’s unbiased.