As President Joe Biden prepares to visit Israel and Saudi Arabia from July 13 to 15, the eyes of the global mainstream media will be trained on the citizens and leaders of the epicenter as they cover the Biden trip every step of the way.
Yet an exclusive new poll commissioned by ALL ISRAEL NEWS reveals that Americans have a staggeringly low degree of trust in the mainstream media, journalists and their editors for how they cover events and trends affecting the Jewish state.
What’s more, the survey reveals that a large number of Americans describe themselves as downright “angry” at the mainstream media and want to find a new source of news and analysis to help them understand what’s happening in Israel and why it should matter to them.
Among American Evangelicals, the survey revealed far lower trust in the mainstream media than the general population.
That said, the survey also found there is a noteworthy gap between how Evangelicals of different races view the media.
The term “mainstream media” generally refers to well-known newsgathering corporations and organizations in the U.S. and around the world operating in the print, broadcast, cable and/or digital spaces. These include the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC and the major broadcast news networks, among others.
Here is the specific question that we asked:
When it comes to media coverage of Israel, which statement best reflects your view?
1. Overall, I trust the mainstream media and believe that they cover news about Israel fairly and honestly.
2. I do not trust the mainstream media and believe that too often their coverage of Israel is unfair, dishonest, and biased against Israel.
3. I am angry with much of the mainstream media, I believe that far too often its coverage of Israel is terribly unfair, dishonest, and extremely biased against Israel, and I wish I could find a news service covering Israel I could trust.
Here are the results:
- Only 30% of Americans aged 18 and older who were surveyed say they trust the mainstream media’s coverage of Israel.
- Half of all Americans (49%) say they do not trust the mainstream media’s coverage of Israel or are downright angry about the media and looking for an alternative source of news and information about Israel.
- Of these, nearly one-third of all Americans (31%) say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel because they find such coverage is too often “unfair, dishonest and biased against Israel.”
- Nearly 1-in-5 Americans (18%) say that they are angry at the media and looking for a news service covering Israel that they can trust.
- Some 20% of Americans said they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel.
Particularly significant is the fact that 18% of Americans are so turned off by the mainstream media’s dishonesty and bias against Israel that they are interested in finding a news service covering Israel that they can trust.
How many people does this figure represent?
According to the U.S. Census in 2020, there are 258.3 million Americans aged 18 or over.
That means 46 million Americans of all religions, races and regions wish they could find a credible, honest, trustworthy alternative source of news and analysis regarding Israel and the Middle East.
When it comes specifically to born-again Evangelical Christians, the numbers are even more striking:
- Only 25.6% of American Evangelicals say they trust the mainstream media’s coverage of Israel.
- Almost 6-in-10 Evangelicals (57.4%) say they do not trust the mainstream media’s coverage of Israel or are downright angry about the media and looking for an alternative source of news and information about Israel.
- Of these, 38.7% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel because they find such coverage is too often “unfair, dishonest, and biased against Israel.”
- Nearly 1-in-5 Americans (18.8%) say that they are angry at the media and looking for a news service covering Israel that they can trust.
- 17% said they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
The exclusive national poll was conducted by McLaughlin & Associates, a nationally known and widely respected polling firm that has conducted scientific opinion surveys over the years for corporations, non-profit organizations, members of Congress and American presidents, as well as for foreign leaders, including in the State of Israel.
Taken during the period between June 17 and 22, 2022, the poll asked questions of 1,000 Americans aged 18 and over.
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