An Emerson College poll found that in the early days of the Trump administration, the nation remains almost evenly split on Donald Trump’s performance as President, with 48% of registered voters approving of the job Trump is doing, versus 47% who disapprove. The variance falls largely along party lines: Republicans approve of Trump 89%/5%, while Democrats disapprove of the President by a margin of 81% to 17%. What is keeping Trump’s from passing the 50% threshold in the poll is his standing among independents, who disapprove of him 52%/42%.
Yet despite the initial confusion about Trump's approval, a more interesting observations from the same poll is that according to voters, the Trump administration was viewed as vastly more trustworthy than the news media. The Trump administration is considered truthful by 49% of voters, to 48% of voters who consider it untruthful. Meanwhile, the news media is considered untruthful by a 53% - majority of voters, to only 39% who find them truthful (a 14 - point gap).
The partisan split on this topic is clear: 89% of Republicans find the Trump administration truthful, versus 77% of Democrats who find the administration untruthful. Conversely, 69% of Democrats find the news media truthful, while a whopping 91% of Republicans consider them untruthful, which may explain the origin of the "liberal media" moniker. Meanwhile, independents consider both untruthful – the Trump administration by a margin of 42%/52% and the news media by a margin of 45%/47%.
A recent Gallup poll on the public's trust in media revealed an even more disturbing picture: before the election, a paltry 32% of Americans trusted the fourth estate, with only 14% of Republicans.
The national Emerson College poll was conducted February 5-6 under. The sample consisted of 617 registered voters, and has a margin of error of +/- 3.9%. The full poll can be read here.