Where News Audiences Fit on the Political Spectrum
Where do Americans get their news about politics and government? And how does the media environment intersect with political polarization? A Pew Research Center study based on a representative online survey finds striking differences in news habits along the ideological spectrum.
Explore the data:
Where do Americans get their news about politics and government? And how does the media environment intersect with political polarization? A Pew Research Center study based on a representative online survey finds striking differences in news habits along the ideological spectrum.
Explore the data:
Consumers of New Yorker
Audience compared to all Web respondents
Source: American Trends Panel (wave 1). Survey conducted March 19-April 29, 2014. Based on all Web respondents (representative of the 89% of Americans with internet access). Each graphic shows the ideological distribution of all respondents who got news about government and politics from the source over the course of a week. Sizes of each graphic reflect the relative sizes of their audiences, which can also be seen in the reference graphic on the top right of the page. (Overall N=2,901; sample sizes for consumers of each source available upon request.) Ideological consistency based on a scale of 10 political values questions.
Updated 10/21/14: Graphic updated to align visual representation of five segments of ideological spectrum with underlying data. All data labels and percentages are unchanged.
The table below shows the share of respondents who have heard of each of the 36 media sources in the study, as well as the ways in which name recognition varies depending on a person's ideological preferences. On average, those with consistently liberal political values have heard of more sources than those in other ideological groups.
Awareness of News Sources
% of respondents who have heard of each source
| Source | Overall | Consistently liberal | Mostly liberal | Mixed | Mostly conservative | Consistently conservative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNN | 95% | 97% | 95% | 93% | 96% | 94% |
| ABC News | 94% | 97% | 93% | 93% | 96% | 95% |
| NBC News | 94% | 98% | 93% | 92% | 95% | 94% |
| CBS News | 93% | 96% | 93% | 91% | 95% | 93% |
| Fox News | 93% | 94% | 94% | 90% | 94% | 96% |
| USA TODAY | 90% | 93% | 89% | 86% | 92% | 93% |
| MSNBC | 89% | 96% | 88% | 86% | 92% | 94% |
| PBS | 88% | 95% | 90% | 83% | 90% | 92% |
| New York Times | 85% | 95% | 86% | 79% | 88% | 85% |
| Wall Street Journal | 82% | 92% | 80% | 74% | 87% | 92% |
| Yahoo News | 80% | 83% | 82% | 79% | 80% | 78% |
| Washington Post | 80% | 92% | 79% | 70% | 85% | 87% |
| BBC | 76% | 91% | 80% | 66% | 78% | 81% |
| Google News | 71% | 70% | 72% | 73% | 71% | 62% |
| Huffington Post | 66% | 88% | 64% | 53% | 68% | 76% |
| Rush Limbaugh Show | 66% | 78% | 57% | 55% | 78% | 91% |
| New Yorker | 65% | 85% | 69% | 54% | 65% | 67% |
| Daily Show | 64% | 87% | 67% | 55% | 63% | 57% |
| Colbert Report | 62% | 86% | 64% | 52% | 59% | 59% |
| Bloomberg | 60% | 73% | 59% | 48% | 65% | 77% |
| NPR | 53% | 82% | 50% | 36% | 57% | 63% |
| Glenn Beck Program | 49% | 63% | 39% | 32% | 68% | 83% |
| Sean Hannity Show | 45% | 61% | 36% | 29% | 58% | 84% |
| Al Jazeera America | 42% | 70% | 43% | 26% | 43% | 60% |
| Guardian | 36% | 69% | 37% | 23% | 31% | 37% |
| Drudge Report | 34% | 55% | 23% | 20% | 43% | 68% |
| Economist | 34% | 67% | 34% | 24% | 28% | 31% |
| Politico | 32% | 59% | 25% | 15% | 37% | 61% |
| BuzzFeed | 31% | 60% | 32% | 24% | 24% | 25% |
| Mother Jones* | 22% | 62% | 19% | 9% | 14% | 28% |
| Slate | 21% | 54% | 18% | 10% | 16% | 20% |
| TheBlaze | 18% | 15% | 8% | 10% | 33% | 53% |
| Breitbart | 15% | 22% | 7% | 7% | 20% | 42% |
| Ed Schultz Show* | 15% | 35% | 13% | 6% | 13% | 26% |
| Daily Kos* | 12% | 35% | 10% | 4% | 9% | 17% |
| ThinkProgress* | 9% | 30% | 7% | 2% | 7% | 9% |
Where do Americans get their political news, and how does this search for information differ across the conservative to liberal spectrum? Panelists were asked whether, over the course of the previous week, they got news about government and politics from each of the 36 sources listed below for news about government and politics. The sortable table shows where the left, right and those in between go to learn about what's going on in Washington and across the nation.
Consumption of News Sources
% of respondents who got news about politics and government in the previous week from each source
| Source | Overall | Consistently liberal | Mostly liberal | Mixed | Mostly conservative | Consistently conservative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNN | 44% | 52% | 48% | 49% | 32% | 20% |
| Fox News | 39% | 10% | 24% | 39% | 61% | 84% |
| ABC News | 37% | 33% | 38% | 42% | 32% | 26% |
| NBC News | 37% | 37% | 44% | 40% | 29% | 21% |
| CBS News | 29% | 30% | 32% | 32% | 24% | 22% |
| MSNBC | 27% | 38% | 32% | 25% | 23% | 13% |
| Yahoo News | 24% | 16% | 25% | 27% | 25% | 17% |
| Google News | 22% | 18% | 23% | 26% | 19% | 13% |
| NPR | 20% | 53% | 23% | 12% | 10% | 8% |
| BBC | 17% | 34% | 21% | 12% | 8% | 10% |
| PBS | 17% | 37% | 18% | 12% | 10% | 7% |
| New York Times | 13% | 33% | 15% | 8% | 7% | 5% |
| Huffington Post | 13% | 29% | 15% | 8% | 8% | 10% |
| Daily Show | 12% | 34% | 14% | 7% | 4% | 1% |
| USA TODAY | 12% | 13% | 13% | 11% | 13% | 11% |
| Colbert Report | 10% | 26% | 12% | 6% | 5% | 1% |
| Wall Street Journal | 10% | 12% | 10% | 7% | 13% | 16% |
| Sean Hannity Show | 9% | 1% | 0% | 3% | 19% | 45% |
| Rush Limbaugh Show | 8% | 1% | 0% | 3% | 17% | 43% |
| Washington Post | 8% | 17% | 9% | 4% | 5% | 6% |
| Glenn Beck Program | 6% | 1% | 0% | 2% | 13% | 34% |
| TheBlaze | 5% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 10% | 29% |
| Drudge Report | 5% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 10% | 20% |
| Politico | 4% | 12% | 3% | 2% | 4% | 4% |
| Al Jazeera America | 4% | 12% | 5% | 2% | 1% | 2% |
| Bloomberg | 4% | 5% | 4% | 3% | 5% | 5% |
| BuzzFeed | 4% | 8% | 5% | 3% | 3% | 0% |
| New Yorker | 3% | 10% | 3% | 1% | 1% | 0% |
| Breitbart | 3% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 5% | 16% |
| Economist | 3% | 7% | 4% | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| Guardian | 3% | 9% | 4% | 2% | 1% | 1% |
| Slate | 3% | 9% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 0% |
| Mother Jones* | 2% | 10% | 2% | 1% | 0% | 0% |
| Ed Schultz Show* | 2% | 8% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 1% |
| Daily Kos* | 2% | 9% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 1% |
| ThinkProgress* | 1% | 6% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
The study sought to measure not just whether people have heard of a variety of news sources, but which ones they trust. nine sources are trusted by 50% or more of consistent liberals. That compares with four sources trusted by at least half of consistent conservatives. Three outlets, CNN, ABC News and NBC News, are trusted by at least 50% of all panelists. It's worth noting that the 'distrust' numbers may be low for some lesser-known outlets mainly because many respondents have never heard of them, rather than because most respondents trust them.
Trust of News Sources
% of respondents saying they trust each source
| Source | Overall | Consistently liberal | Mostly liberal | Mixed | Mostly conservative | Consistently conservative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNN | 54% | 56% | 66% | 61% | 39% | 14% |
| ABC News | 50% | 52% | 59% | 56% | 40% | 18% |
| NBC News | 50% | 56% | 63% | 54% | 37% | 16% |
| CBS News | 46% | 51% | 55% | 50% | 36% | 16% |
| Fox News | 44% | 6% | 28% | 47% | 72% | 88% |
| MSNBC | 38% | 52% | 48% | 39% | 26% | 7% |
| PBS | 38% | 71% | 50% | 31% | 23% | 8% |
| BBC | 36% | 69% | 45% | 28% | 22% | 12% |
| New York Times | 34% | 62% | 45% | 29% | 17% | 3% |
| USA TODAY | 33% | 29% | 38% | 38% | 29% | 14% |
| Wall Street Journal | 31% | 35% | 34% | 28% | 32% | 30% |
| NPR | 29% | 72% | 36% | 19% | 14% | 3% |
| Washington Post | 27% | 48% | 33% | 23% | 17% | 7% |
| Google News | 25% | 25% | 26% | 29% | 20% | 11% |
| Yahoo News | 20% | 17% | 25% | 22% | 14% | 10% |
| Huffington Post | 18% | 38% | 21% | 13% | 10% | 5% |
| Daily Show | 16% | 45% | 21% | 10% | 5% | 0% |
| Colbert Report | 15% | 36% | 20% | 10% | 7% | 2% |
| New Yorker | 14% | 32% | 18% | 11% | 7% | 1% |
| Economist | 12% | 30% | 14% | 7% | 8% | 4% |
| Sean Hannity Show | 12% | 0% | 1% | 6% | 28% | 62% |
| Rush Limbaugh Show | 12% | 0% | 2% | 6% | 27% | 58% |
| Bloomberg | 11% | 18% | 13% | 8% | 8% | 7% |
| Glenn Beck Program | 10% | 0% | 1% | 4% | 24% | 51% |
| Al Jazeera America | 9% | 28% | 11% | 3% | 3% | 3% |
| Drudge Report | 8% | 1% | 2% | 4% | 15% | 34% |
| Guardian | 7% | 21% | 8% | 4% | 3% | 2% |
| Politico | 7% | 21% | 7% | 2% | 4% | 5% |
| TheBlaze | 6% | 1% | 0% | 2% | 13% | 37% |
| Mother Jones* | 6% | 25% | 5% | 1% | 0% | 1% |
| Breitbart | 4% | 0% | 0% | 2% | 8% | 25% |
| Slate | 4% | 14% | 4% | 1% | 1% | 0% |
| Ed Schultz Show* | 3% | 14% | 3% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| BuzzFeed | 2% | 6% | 3% | 1% | 1% | 0% |
| Daily Kos* | 2% | 10% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| ThinkProgress* | 2% | 10% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 1% |
The study attempted to measure not just whether people had heard of a variety of news sources, but which ones they really trusted when it came time to get straight info about politics and governments. There is not a single news source distrusted by at least half of all panelists or those with mixed or mostly conservative views. Six sources are distrusted by 50% or more of consistent conservatives and four are distrusted by most consistent liberals. It's worth keeping in mind when reading the table that the 'distrust' numbers may be low for some less well known outlets mainly because most respondents have never heard of them, rather than because most respondents do not trust them.
Distrust of News Sources
% of respondents saying they distrust each source
| Source | Overall | Consistently liberal | Mostly liberal | Mixed | Mostly conservative | Consistently conservative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rush Limbaugh Show | 39% | 75% | 47% | 33% | 21% | 7% |
| Fox News | 37% | 81% | 54% | 28% | 11% | 3% |
| Glenn Beck Program | 24% | 59% | 30% | 16% | 13% | 4% |
| MSNBC | 22% | 9% | 9% | 15% | 40% | 75% |
| Sean Hannity Show | 21% | 54% | 26% | 13% | 7% | 5% |
| CNN | 20% | 12% | 11% | 14% | 33% | 61% |
| NBC News | 19% | 6% | 7% | 15% | 35% | 62% |
| Daily Show | 18% | 4% | 11% | 18% | 31% | 34% |
| ABC News | 17% | 6% | 8% | 14% | 27% | 52% |
| CBS News | 17% | 6% | 9% | 11% | 32% | 51% |
| Huffington Post | 17% | 10% | 12% | 13% | 26% | 44% |
| New York Times | 17% | 3% | 6% | 13% | 33% | 50% |
| Al Jazeera America | 16% | 8% | 8% | 11% | 25% | 47% |
| Colbert Report | 16% | 6% | 11% | 15% | 25% | 30% |
| Yahoo News | 16% | 9% | 15% | 20% | 15% | 19% |
| Washington Post | 14% | 6% | 6% | 10% | 26% | 39% |
| USA TODAY | 13% | 11% | 10% | 8% | 18% | 30% |
| PBS | 12% | 2% | 5% | 12% | 20% | 34% |
| Google News | 11% | 4% | 8% | 16% | 10% | 12% |
| New Yorker | 10% | 4% | 8% | 7% | 17% | 27% |
| Wall Street Journal | 10% | 14% | 6% | 9% | 11% | 17% |
| Drudge Report | 9% | 27% | 8% | 5% | 3% | 3% |
| NPR | 9% | 1% | 2% | 5% | 17% | 39% |
| Bloomberg | 8% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 12% | 20% |
| BuzzFeed | 8% | 11% | 8% | 8% | 7% | 6% |
| BBC | 7% | 2% | 3% | 9% | 11% | 17% |
| Mother Jones* | 5% | 3% | 2% | 3% | 6% | 19% |
| Politico | 5% | 4% | 1% | 3% | 10% | 20% |
| Ed Schultz Show* | 5% | 4% | 3% | 2% | 10% | 19% |
| Breitbart | 4% | 16% | 3% | 1% | 0% | 1% |
| Guardian | 4% | 7% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 4% |
| TheBlaze | 3% | 6% | 2% | 1% | 4% | 1% |
| Daily Kos* | 3% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 5% | 10% |
| Slate | 3% | 4% | 1% | 2% | 4% | 8% |
| Economist | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 3% |
| ThinkProgress* | 2% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 4% | 6% |
For each of the news media sources listed below, respondents were asked whether they have heard of the outlet, gone there for news in the past week, and whether they consider it trustworthy. Not surprisingly, by virtue of their greater familiarity, the most well-known sources also tend to be the sources trusted and consumed by the greatest percentage of political news consumers. Overall, panelists trust more sources than they distrust.
Media Habits
% of respondents who...
| Source | Have heard of | Got news from | Trust | Distrust |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNN | 95% | 44% | 54% | 20% |
| ABC News | 94% | 37% | 50% | 17% |
| NBC News | 94% | 37% | 50% | 19% |
| CBS News | 93% | 29% | 46% | 17% |
| Fox News | 93% | 39% | 44% | 37% |
| MSNBC | 89% | 27% | 38% | 22% |
| PBS | 88% | 17% | 38% | 12% |
| BBC | 76% | 17% | 36% | 7% |
| New York Times | 85% | 13% | 34% | 17% |
| USA TODAY | 90% | 12% | 33% | 13% |
| Wall Street Journal | 82% | 10% | 31% | 10% |
| NPR | 53% | 20% | 29% | 9% |
| Washington Post | 80% | 8% | 27% | 14% |
| Google News | 71% | 22% | 25% | 11% |
| Yahoo News | 80% | 24% | 20% | 16% |
| Huffington Post | 66% | 13% | 18% | 17% |
| Daily Show | 64% | 12% | 16% | 18% |
| Colbert Report | 62% | 10% | 15% | 16% |
| New Yorker | 65% | 3% | 14% | 10% |
| Economist | 34% | 3% | 12% | 2% |
| Sean Hannity Show | 45% | 9% | 12% | 21% |
| Rush Limbaugh Show | 66% | 8% | 12% | 39% |
| Bloomberg | 60% | 4% | 11% | 8% |
| Glenn Beck Program | 49% | 6% | 10% | 24% |
| Al Jazeera America | 42% | 4% | 9% | 16% |
| Drudge Report | 34% | 5% | 8% | 9% |
| Guardian | 36% | 3% | 7% | 4% |
| Politico | 32% | 4% | 7% | 5% |
| TheBlaze | 18% | 5% | 6% | 3% |
| Mother Jones* | 22% | 2% | 6% | 5% |
| Breitbart | 15% | 3% | 4% | 4% |
| Slate | 21% | 3% | 4% | 3% |
| Ed Schultz Show* | 15% | 2% | 3% | 5% |
| BuzzFeed | 31% | 4% | 2% | 8% |
| Daily Kos* | 12% | 2% | 2% | 3% |
| ThinkProgress* | 9% | 1% | 2% | 2% |
On average, respondents with consistently liberal political values turn to more sources for news about government and politics than do those in other groups. They also trust more sources than do other groups. Nine of the 36 sources are trusted by more than 50% of consistent liberals.
Media Habits of Consistently Liberal Respondents
% of respondents with consistently liberal ideological views who...
| Source | Have heard of | Got news from | Trust | Distrust |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NPR | 82% | 53% | 72% | 1% |
| PBS | 95% | 37% | 71% | 2% |
| BBC | 91% | 34% | 69% | 2% |
| New York Times | 95% | 33% | 62% | 3% |
| CNN | 97% | 52% | 56% | 12% |
| NBC News | 98% | 37% | 56% | 6% |
| ABC News | 97% | 33% | 52% | 6% |
| MSNBC | 96% | 38% | 52% | 9% |
| CBS News | 96% | 30% | 51% | 6% |
| Washington Post | 92% | 17% | 48% | 6% |
| Daily Show | 87% | 34% | 45% | 4% |
| Huffington Post | 88% | 29% | 38% | 10% |
| Colbert Report | 86% | 26% | 36% | 6% |
| Wall Street Journal | 92% | 12% | 35% | 14% |
| New Yorker | 85% | 10% | 32% | 4% |
| Economist | 67% | 7% | 30% | 2% |
| USA TODAY | 93% | 13% | 29% | 11% |
| Al Jazeera America | 70% | 12% | 28% | 8% |
| Google News | 70% | 18% | 25% | 4% |
| Mother Jones* | 62% | 10% | 25% | 3% |
| Guardian | 69% | 9% | 21% | 7% |
| Politico | 59% | 12% | 21% | 4% |
| Bloomberg | 73% | 5% | 18% | 5% |
| Yahoo News | 83% | 16% | 17% | 9% |
| Ed Schultz Show* | 35% | 8% | 14% | 4% |
| Slate | 54% | 9% | 14% | 4% |
| Daily Kos* | 35% | 9% | 10% | 3% |
| ThinkProgress* | 30% | 6% | 10% | 2% |
| BuzzFeed | 60% | 8% | 6% | 11% |
| Fox News | 94% | 10% | 6% | 81% |
| TheBlaze | 15% | 1% | 1% | 6% |
| Drudge Report | 55% | 1% | 1% | 27% |
| Glenn Beck Program | 63% | 1% | 0% | 59% |
| Breitbart | 22% | 1% | 0% | 16% |
| Sean Hannity Show | 61% | 1% | 0% | 54% |
| Rush Limbaugh Show | 78% | 1% | 0% | 75% |
On average, respondents with mostly liberal political views have heard of fewer sources than consistent liberals. The most trusted sources among this group are similar to those of respondents overall – but they trust these sources at higher rates.
Media Habits of Mostly Liberal Respondents
% of respondents with mostly liberal ideological views who...
| Source | Have heard of | Got news from | Trust | Distrust |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNN | 95% | 48% | 66% | 11% |
| NBC News | 93% | 44% | 63% | 7% |
| ABC News | 93% | 38% | 59% | 8% |
| CBS News | 93% | 32% | 55% | 9% |
| PBS | 90% | 18% | 50% | 5% |
| MSNBC | 88% | 32% | 48% | 9% |
| BBC | 80% | 21% | 45% | 3% |
| New York Times | 86% | 15% | 45% | 6% |
| USA TODAY | 89% | 13% | 38% | 10% |
| NPR | 50% | 23% | 36% | 2% |
| Wall Street Journal | 80% | 10% | 34% | 6% |
| Washington Post | 79% | 9% | 33% | 6% |
| Fox News | 94% | 24% | 28% | 54% |
| Google News | 72% | 23% | 26% | 8% |
| Yahoo News | 82% | 25% | 25% | 15% |
| Daily Show | 67% | 14% | 21% | 11% |
| Huffington Post | 64% | 15% | 21% | 12% |
| Colbert Report | 64% | 12% | 20% | 11% |
| New Yorker | 69% | 3% | 18% | 8% |
| Economist | 34% | 4% | 14% | 2% |
| Bloomberg | 59% | 4% | 13% | 5% |
| Al Jazeera America | 43% | 5% | 11% | 8% |
| Guardian | 37% | 4% | 8% | 4% |
| Politico | 25% | 3% | 7% | 1% |
| Mother Jones* | 19% | 2% | 5% | 2% |
| Slate | 18% | 2% | 4% | 1% |
| BuzzFeed | 32% | 5% | 3% | 8% |
| Ed Schultz Show* | 13% | 1% | 3% | 3% |
| Drudge Report | 23% | 1% | 2% | 8% |
| Rush Limbaugh Show | 57% | 0% | 2% | 47% |
| ThinkProgress* | 7% | 1% | 2% | 1% |
| Glenn Beck Program | 39% | 0% | 1% | 30% |
| Daily Kos* | 10% | 1% | 1% | 2% |
| Sean Hannity Show | 36% | 0% | 1% | 26% |
| TheBlaze | 8% | 1% | 0% | 2% |
| Breitbart | 7% | 1% | 0% | 3% |
Respondents with a mix of conservative and liberal views trust more sources than they distrust. They also tend to gravitate toward both broadcast and cable television sources for news about government and politics.
Media Habits of Respondents with Mixed Ideological Views
% of respondents with mixed ideological views who...
| Source | Have heard of | Got news from | Trust | Distrust |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNN | 93% | 49% | 61% | 14% |
| ABC News | 93% | 42% | 56% | 14% |
| NBC News | 92% | 40% | 54% | 15% |
| CBS News | 91% | 32% | 50% | 11% |
| Fox News | 90% | 39% | 47% | 28% |
| MSNBC | 86% | 25% | 39% | 15% |
| USA TODAY | 86% | 11% | 38% | 8% |
| PBS | 83% | 12% | 31% | 12% |
| Google News | 73% | 26% | 29% | 16% |
| New York Times | 79% | 8% | 29% | 13% |
| BBC | 66% | 12% | 28% | 9% |
| Wall Street Journal | 74% | 7% | 28% | 9% |
| Washington Post | 70% | 4% | 23% | 10% |
| Yahoo News | 79% | 27% | 22% | 20% |
| NPR | 36% | 12% | 19% | 5% |
| Huffington Post | 53% | 8% | 13% | 13% |
| New Yorker | 54% | 1% | 11% | 7% |
| Colbert Report | 52% | 6% | 10% | 15% |
| Daily Show | 55% | 7% | 10% | 18% |
| Bloomberg | 48% | 3% | 8% | 5% |
| Economist | 24% | 2% | 7% | 2% |
| Sean Hannity Show | 29% | 3% | 6% | 13% |
| Rush Limbaugh Show | 55% | 3% | 6% | 33% |
| Glenn Beck Program | 32% | 2% | 4% | 16% |
| Drudge Report | 20% | 2% | 4% | 5% |
| Guardian | 23% | 2% | 4% | 4% |
| Al Jazeera America | 26% | 2% | 3% | 11% |
| TheBlaze | 10% | 1% | 2% | 1% |
| Breitbart | 7% | 1% | 2% | 1% |
| Politico | 15% | 2% | 2% | 3% |
| BuzzFeed | 24% | 3% | 1% | 8% |
| Mother Jones* | 9% | 1% | 1% | 3% |
| Slate | 10% | 1% | 1% | 2% |
| Daily Kos* | 4% | 0% | 0% | 2% |
| Ed Schultz Show* | 6% | 0% | 0% | 2% |
| ThinkProgress* | 2% | 0% | 0% | 1% |
On average, those with mostly conservative political values trust and distrust about the same number of sources. No news source is distrusted by a majority of this group, though 15 sources draw more distrust than trust.
Media Habits of Mostly Conservative Respondents
% of respondents with mostly conservative ideological views who...
| Source | Have heard of | Got news from | Trust | Distrust |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fox News | 94% | 61% | 72% | 11% |
| ABC News | 96% | 32% | 40% | 27% |
| CNN | 96% | 32% | 39% | 33% |
| NBC News | 95% | 29% | 37% | 35% |
| CBS News | 95% | 24% | 36% | 32% |
| Wall Street Journal | 87% | 13% | 32% | 11% |
| USA TODAY | 92% | 13% | 29% | 18% |
| Sean Hannity Show | 58% | 19% | 28% | 7% |
| Rush Limbaugh Show | 78% | 17% | 27% | 21% |
| MSNBC | 92% | 23% | 26% | 40% |
| Glenn Beck Program | 68% | 13% | 24% | 13% |
| PBS | 90% | 10% | 23% | 20% |
| BBC | 78% | 8% | 22% | 11% |
| Google News | 71% | 19% | 20% | 10% |
| New York Times | 88% | 7% | 17% | 33% |
| Washington Post | 85% | 5% | 17% | 26% |
| Drudge Report | 43% | 10% | 15% | 3% |
| NPR | 57% | 10% | 14% | 17% |
| Yahoo News | 80% | 25% | 14% | 15% |
| TheBlaze | 33% | 10% | 13% | 4% |
| Huffington Post | 68% | 8% | 10% | 26% |
| Bloomberg | 65% | 5% | 8% | 12% |
| Breitbart | 20% | 5% | 8% | 0% |
| Economist | 28% | 2% | 8% | 2% |
| Colbert Report | 59% | 5% | 7% | 25% |
| New Yorker | 65% | 1% | 7% | 17% |
| Daily Show | 63% | 4% | 5% | 31% |
| Politico | 37% | 4% | 4% | 10% |
| Al Jazeera America | 43% | 1% | 3% | 25% |
| Guardian | 31% | 1% | 3% | 4% |
| BuzzFeed | 24% | 3% | 1% | 7% |
| Slate | 16% | 1% | 1% | 4% |
| Daily Kos* | 9% | 0% | 0% | 5% |
| Mother Jones* | 14% | 0% | 0% | 6% |
| Ed Schultz Show* | 13% | 0% | 0% | 10% |
| ThinkProgress* | 7% | 0% | 0% | 4% |
Those with consistently conservative political values are united around a single source – Fox News – in a way that no other ideological group is. Overall, 24 of the 36 sources surveyed draw more distrust than trust among this group.
Media Habits of Consistently Conservative Respondents
% of respondents with consistently conservative ideological views who...
| Source | Have heard of | Got news from | Trust | Distrust |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fox News | 96% | 84% | 88% | 3% |
| Sean Hannity Show | 84% | 45% | 62% | 5% |
| Rush Limbaugh Show | 91% | 43% | 58% | 7% |
| Glenn Beck Program | 83% | 34% | 51% | 4% |
| TheBlaze | 53% | 29% | 37% | 1% |
| Drudge Report | 68% | 20% | 34% | 3% |
| Wall Street Journal | 92% | 16% | 30% | 17% |
| Breitbart | 42% | 16% | 25% | 1% |
| ABC News | 95% | 26% | 18% | 52% |
| CBS News | 93% | 22% | 16% | 51% |
| NBC News | 94% | 21% | 16% | 62% |
| CNN | 94% | 20% | 14% | 61% |
| USA TODAY | 93% | 11% | 14% | 30% |
| BBC | 81% | 10% | 12% | 17% |
| Google News | 62% | 13% | 11% | 12% |
| Yahoo News | 78% | 17% | 10% | 19% |
| PBS | 92% | 7% | 8% | 34% |
| Bloomberg | 77% | 5% | 7% | 20% |
| MSNBC | 94% | 13% | 7% | 75% |
| Washington Post | 87% | 6% | 7% | 39% |
| Huffington Post | 76% | 10% | 5% | 44% |
| Politico | 61% | 4% | 5% | 20% |
| Economist | 31% | 2% | 4% | 3% |
| Al Jazeera America | 60% | 2% | 3% | 47% |
| NPR | 63% | 8% | 3% | 39% |
| New York Times | 85% | 5% | 3% | 50% |
| Colbert Report | 59% | 1% | 2% | 30% |
| Guardian | 37% | 1% | 2% | 4% |
| Mother Jones* | 28% | 0% | 1% | 19% |
| New Yorker | 67% | 0% | 1% | 27% |
| ThinkProgress* | 9% | 0% | 1% | 6% |
| BuzzFeed | 25% | 0% | 0% | 6% |
| Daily Kos* | 17% | 1% | 0% | 10% |
| Daily Show | 57% | 1% | 0% | 34% |
| Ed Schultz Show* | 26% | 1% | 0% | 19% |
| Slate | 20% | 0% | 0% | 8% |
Source: American Trends Panel (wave 1). Survey conducted March 19-April 29, 2014. Based on all Web respondents (representative of the 89% of Americans with internet access). (Overall N=2,901; see About the Study for sample sizes of each ideological group.) Respondents were asked which (of 36 sources for news about government and politics) they have heard of, trust, distrust and got news from in the past week. Ideological consistency based on a scale of 10 political values questions. To see audience profiles, click each source. *Note that ThinkProgress, Daily Kos, Mother Jones and The Ed Schultz Show do not have audience profiles because the sample sizes for these audiences are too small to analyze.
