Media

Poll: Americans say major networks except Fox lean left

by Joe Concha - 04/09/19 12:35 PM ET

Major news channels, with the exception of Fox News, are seen by Americans as leaning more to the left than the right, according to a new nationwide poll.

The survey by Morning Consult and The Hollywood Reporter found that registered voters were more likely to say networks like ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and NBC are “more liberal,” as opposed to being “more conservative” or neutral in their news coverage.

{mosads}Fox News, however, was seen as “more conservative,” as 51 percent agreed with that description of the network. Forty-six percent of respondents said CNN was “more liberal.”

“President Trump’s relentless rhetoric on the mainstream media has helped shape how those mediums are viewed among his base,” Tyler Sinclair, a vice president at Morning Consult, said in a statement with the polling results.

“Outside of their local news, Republicans find Fox News the most credible out of all mainstream media outlets and CNN the least credible. In contrast, Democrats are most likely to find Fox News least credible and CNN and the three major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) most credible,” Sinclair said.

CNN and Fox News were in a virtual tie, within the margin of error, on the issue of credibility. Fifty-three percent said CNN is credible, while 52 percent said the same of Fox News. Forty-six percent of respondents said MSNBC is credible.

When asked if cable news networks seem to cover opinions more than facts, 48 percent agreed, while 19 percent said more facts than opinions were covered. One-third said they didn’t know.

Tags CNN Donald Trump Fox News Fox News MSNBC TV news