New poll finds half of all Americans – and almost 60% of Evangelicals – believe mainstream media ‘unfair, dishonest and biased against Israel’
Survey reveals that some 46 million Americans are downright “angry” at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a new source of information that is honest and fair
WASHINGTON, D.C.–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, and a significant degree of outright anger at 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 a 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.
The survey has a 3.1% margin of error, plus or minus, at a 95% confidence interval.
Near East Media – which oversees ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS – is a non-profit, non-partisan, and non-political organization incorporated in the State of Virginia. The purpose of this survey was to better understand how the American people view events and trends in Israel and the Arab/Muslim world. The results are not intended for partisan political purposes, or to influence legislation at the international, federal, state, or local levels.
Let’s dig deeper into the data.
BY RELIGION
Evangelical born-again Christians
As noted above, only 25.6% of all Evangelicals say they trust the mainstream media’s coverage of Israel
That said, there is a notable gap between how Evangelicals of different races view the matter
Only 18.4% of White Evangelicals trust the media
Yet 44.7% of Black Evangelicals trust the media
And 47.1% of Hispanic Evangelicals trust the media
Overall, 57.4% of all Evangelicals say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel – but again, there is a racial divide
65.9% of White Evangelicals do not trust the media
But only 33.9% of Black Evangelicals do not trust the media
43.1% of Hispanic Evangelicals do not trust the media
Overall, 18.8% of all Evangelicals say they are downright angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust – but yet again the racial divide is pronounced
24.2% of White Evangelicals are angry and looking for a new source of Israel and Mideast news
Only 2.4% of Black Evangelicals are angry and looking for a new source of news
10.3% of Hispanic Evangelicals are angry and looking for a new source of news
17% of all Evangelicals don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
15.7% of White Evangelicals say they don’t know how they feel
21.4% of Black Evangelicals say they don’t know how they feel
9.7% of Hispanic Evangelicals say they don’t know how they feel
Protestants
28.1% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
51.3% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
33.9% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
17.4% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
20.6% don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Catholics
32.5% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
52.2% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
31.5% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
20.7% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
15.3% don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Jews
47.4% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
50.8% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
20.2% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
30.6% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
1.8% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
BY RACE
Whites
28.1% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
52.2% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
31.5% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
20.6% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
19.7% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
African Americans
40.8% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
34.1% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
24.8% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
9.4% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
25.1% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Hispanic Americans
32.7% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
50.8% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
34.6% Do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
16.2% say they are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
16.6% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Asian Americans
28.0% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
30.5% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
27.9% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
2.6% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
41.5% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
BY REGION
Americans who live in the East
34.8% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
46.4% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
27.5% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
18.8% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
18.8% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Americans who live in the Midwest
29.5% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
52.3% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
36.4% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
15.9% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
18.2% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Americans who live in the South
28.1% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
49.0% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
30% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
19% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
22.9% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Americans who live in the West
31.8% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
48.6% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
30.2% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
18.4% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
19.6% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
BY AGE
Young people, ages 18 to 29
31% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
51.1% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
33.1% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
18.0% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
17.9% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Americans between the ages of 30 and 40
32.7% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
43.7% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
31.7% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
12.0% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
23.6% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Americans between the ages of 41 and 55
28.6% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
44.2% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
32.3% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
11.9% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
27.2% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Americans between the ages 56 and 65
28.6% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
55.8% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
29.5% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
26.4% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
15.4% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Americans over the age of 65
31.8% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
51.4% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
28.8% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
22.6% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
16.8% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
BY GENDER
Men
28.8% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
58.3% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
35.3% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
23% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
12.9% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Women
31.8% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
40.8% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
27% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
13.8% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
27.4% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
BY POLITICAL AFFILIATION
Republicans
13.4% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
74.3% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
44.2% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
30.1% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
12.3% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Democrats
50.2% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
24.5% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
18.4% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
6.1% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
25.2% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Independents
25.9% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
49.5% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
30.7% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
18.8% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
24.7% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Americans who voted for Trump in 2020
10.7% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
75.5% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
45.4% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
30.2% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
13.8% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Americans who voted for Biden in 2020
48.6% say they trust the media’s coverage of Israel
25.0% say they do not trust the media’s coverage of Israel
17.5% do not trust because the media is dishonest and biased against Israel
7.4% are angry at the media’s coverage of Israel and looking for a news service they can trust
26.4% say they don’t know how they feel about the media’s coverage of Israel
Joel C. Rosenberg is the editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS and the President and CEO of Near East Media. A New York Times best-selling author, Middle East analyst, and Evangelical leader, he lives in Jerusalem with his wife and sons.
