A new national
Quinnipiac University Poll shows that voters say Fox News offers the most trusted network and cable news coverage, but overall, more people trust their local news coverage most of all.
The poll showed that out of 1,286 registered voters nationwide, 29 percent overall named Fox as their most trusted network, followed by CNN with 22 percent, NBC and CBS with 10 percent each, 8 percent for ABC and 7 percent for MSNBC. The survey carried a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.
When the numbers were broken down, 20 percent of the voters said they trust the "journalistic coverage" provided by Fox a great deal and 35 percent said they trust it somewhat. The numbers compared with NBC, at 14 percent saying a great deal and 46 percent somewhat; ABC, 14 percent a great deal and 50 percent somewhat; CBS, 14 percent a great deal and 50 percent somewhat; MSNBC, 11 percent a great deal and 41 percent somewhat; and CNN, 18 percent a great deal and 43 percent somewhat.
But the big winner overall, pointed out Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, was local news coverage, which was trusted a great deal by 19 percent of those surveyed and somewhat by 52 percent.
When broken down by political parties, Fox came out ahead for Republicans, with 58 percent saying they trust the network the most, followed by 13 percent for CNN, 7 percent each for NBC and CBS, 5 percent for ABC, and 2 percent for MSNBC.
But among Democrats, only 3 percent trust Fox the most, followed by 32 percent for CNN, 15 percent for NBC, 14 percent each for CBS and MSNBC and 8 percent for ABC.
Fox also topped CNN by 34-18 percent among men and with women divided by 25-25 percent. Younger voters, ages 18 to 34, trusted CNN more than Fox by 33-21 percent, with voters ages 35-54 years old going to Fox by 29-21 percent, and those over 55 trusting Fox more by 34-17 percent.
But overall, network news took a hit in trustworthiness, with voters saying by 48-7 percent that the news is less trustworthy than back in the days of Walter Cronkite, with 35 percent finding it about the same.
Still, 42 percent of the voters said
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, who was suspended in February as managing editor and anchor of "NBC Nightly News" for six months after disputed accounts of his reporting in Iraq in 2003 led him to retract and apologize for the inaccuracies, should be allowed to come back as anchor, while 35 percent said he should not.
Meanwhile, 12 percent of the voters said
Fox News' Bill O'Reilly should be fired over allegations of inaccuracies in his past reporting, while 11 percent said he should be suspended, 23 percent said he should stay, and 51 percent said they had not heard enough to form an opinion.
The voters were also asked about their choice for filling Jon Stewart's chair on "The Daily Show," with Tina Fey coming out as the top choice with 19 percent of voters, followed by 16 percent for Dennis Miller, 8 percent for John Oliver, 7 percent each for Brian Williams and Craig Ferguson, and 5 percent for Chelsea Handler.
But there were also gender and age gaps. Fey came out ahead of Miller by 23-12 percent among women, but Miller topped Fey by 21-15 percent with men.
And voters ages 18 to 34 picked Fey by 27 percent, with 12 percent for Oliver, 10 percent for Handler, and 9 percent each for Ferguson and Miller. The older voters were divided between Fey and Miller.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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