A Gallup poll finds only 28% of adults trust the media to report news “fully, accurately and fairly,” a record low since the company first surveyed the issue in 1972.

The polling company reported Thursday that this tally is down from 31% of adults last year, the previous nadir in the trend.

Also, adults responding to this year’s survey said they had “not very much” confidence (36%) or “none at all” (34%) in the nation’s newspapers, TV and radio outlets.

Megan Brenan, a Gallup senior editor, reported that souring attitudes among younger Democrats drove the overall slide in confidence. Traditionally, Democrats have had more faith in the media than Republicans and independents.

“Generational divides further underscore the erosion, with older adults holding significantly more faith than younger Americans in the media,” Ms. Brenan wrote in a summary of the findings. “Given younger Democrats’ relatively low confidence in the media, overall trust could decrease further in the future, unless Republican trust rebounds.”

She pointed out that 43% of adults ages 65 and older who responded to Gallup surveys between 2023 and 2025 expressed trust in the media compared with no more than 28% of any younger age group.

According to Gallup, over half of adults in all age groups trusted the media in surveys conducted during the early 2000s.

This year, media confidence among self-identified Republican survey respondents fell to a single digit for the first time, hitting just 8%.

Just 21% of independents and 51% of Democrats expressed faith in the media this year, matching previous lows in Gallup polling.

Media confidence among Democrats increased with age. It ranged from 38% of survey participants between 18 and 29 years old to 69% of adults 65 or older this year.

“With confidence fractured along partisan and generational lines, the challenge for news organizations is not only to deliver fair and accurate reporting, but also to regain credibility across an increasingly polarized and skeptical public,” Ms. Brenand wrote.

Gallup conducted a randomized national telephone survey of 1,000 adults from Sept. 2-16. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.