President Donald Trump has long attacked the news media—and The Washington Post and The New York Times have been no exception. And it appears his supporters aren't exactly fans of those outlets, either.
A new poll from YouGov/The Economist released this week showed folks who voted for Trump in 2016 trust Infowars—the infamous conspiracy site headed by Alex Jones—about as much as the Post or Times.
The survey asked respondents, "How trustworthy do you rate the following news organizations?" before listing off a number of outlets. Fifteen percent of Trump voters found Infowars trustworthy to some degree—4 percent "very trustworthy" and 11 percent "trustworthy." Fifteen percent of Trump voters deemed The New York Times trustworthy to some degree—5 percent "very trustworthy" and 10 percent "trustworthy"—while 15 percent viewed The Washington Post trustworthy to some degree (5 percent "very trustworthy" and 10 percent "trustworthy").
Further, Trump voters were far more likely to be neutral about Infowars. Fifty-two percent of Trump voters deemed Infowars "neither trustworthy nor untrustworthy," while 32 percent felt it was untrustworthy to some degree, according to YouGov/The Economist. Just 16 percent of Trump voters felt the Times was "neither trustworthy nor untrustworthy," while 69 percent viewed it as untrustworthy to some degree. It was more of the same for the Post. Twenty-one percent of Trump voters felt the paper was "neither trustworthy nor untrustworthy," while 64 percent viewed it as untrustworthy to some degree.
Many other outlets received similar results from folks who voted for Trump—just 11 percent viewed CNN as trustworthy to some degree, 16 percent for NBC, 18 percent for CBS. Americans overall, however, largely trusted major outlets over Infowars. Forty-one percent of Americans viewed the Times as trustworthy—41 percent for the Post. Just 12 percent of Americans overall viewed Infowars as trustworthy.
The poll from YouGov/The Economist surveyed 1,500 U.S. adults from February 10 through February 12. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
It's not entirely surprising that Trump voters trust Infowars. Trump appeared on Jones's show in the past and praised his "amazing" reputation, and both the host and website are generally supportive of the president. Jones, meanwhile, has been banned from nearly every media platform, including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Spotify.
Jones has long peddled conspiracies—claiming chemicals in water were turning people (and frogs) gay, that a so-called new world order was planning to exterminate most of the world and, most notably, that the shooting at Sandy Hook (which left 26 people dead, including 20 kids) was a staged hoax. Families of victims and a FBI agent who responded to the shooting are suing Jones.
