Poll: Most Americans distrust government, mainstream media

According to a recent New York Times/Siena poll, most Americans believe the government serves elites, not the people, and that mainstream media are a threat to democracy. 

Of the 792 registered voters surveyed between October 9-12, 68% believe “the government mainly works to benefit powerful elites,” while 22% believe it “mainly works to benefit ordinary people.” 

71% of Americans believe democracy is facing a threat, which respondents felt could best be summarized by “The government” or “government corruption” or “non-specific politicians/leaders.” 

Most Americans (66%), in fact, believe the federal government is a threat to democracy, evenly split between those who believe it is a “major threat” and those who believe it is a “minor threat.” 

But even more than the government, 84% of Americans believe the mainstream media are a threat to democracy, including 59% who consider them a “major threat”. Of those mainstream media, the outlet respondents turn to most often is Fox News (17%), followed by national television networks such as NBC and CBS (14%) and then CNN (9%). 

Those surveyed also listed the top three main issues facing the country today as the economy, including jobs and the stock market (26%), followed by inflation or the cost of living (19%) and “the state of democracy” (7%). This was followed by immigration (5%). 

The NYT/Siena survey results closely match those of another recent poll from Harvard University with a larger sample size in which voters listed their top three issues as price increases/inflation (37%), economy and jobs (29%), and immigration (23%). But the issues that matter most to Democratic Party leaders, according to the poll, are January 6^th (27%), followed by women’s rights (25%) and environment/climate change (23%). 

Ill will towards the federal government has become a growing theme throughout several recent polls.  

In August, a national survey found that nearly 8 in 10 Americans believe the United States has a two-tiered justice system, with politicians and members of the D.C. elite treated differently than ordinary Americans. 

Also in August, a Rasmussen report revealed that 53% of American voters agree with former adviser to President Trump Roger Stone’s quote that there is “a group of politicized thugs at the top of the FBI who are using the FBI . . . as Joe Biden‘s personal Gestapo.” The number is up from 46% in December.   

The friction between the American people and the federal government becomes even more sober considering that over one quarter of Americans feel it might “soon be necessary to take up arms” against the federal government according to a University of Chicago poll.  

The poll of 1,000 Americans found that 28% of Americans, 37% of whom have guns in their homes, feel “it may be necessary at some point soon for citizens to take up arms against the government.”  

In addition, most Americans feel the government is “corrupt and rigged against everyday people like me,” including 73% of Republicans and 51% of Democrats.  “Overall, two-thirds of Republican and Independent voters agree that the government is ‘corrupt and rigged’ against them, while Democrats are evenly split,” revealed the survey.