Poll shows that nearly half of Americans think the media makes up stories about Trump
A Politico/Morning Consult poll released on Wednesday showed that 46% of Americans believe that media organizations invent stories about Trump, compared to 37% of Americans who did not believe that the media invents stories about the president.
Republicans overwhelmingly believed that the media invented stories about Trump: 76% believed reporters invented stories, compared to just 11% who believed the media did not fabricate stories about Trump.
Eight-five percent of individuals who strongly approved of Trump's performance in office said the media invented stories about Trump, compared to just 7% from that subset who said the media did not invent stories.
Even among Democrats, 20% believed that reporters invented stories, compared to 65% who believed the media does not invent stories about Trump and his administration.
Politico/Morning consult surveyed 1,991 registered voters online, with a margin-of-error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Amid Trump's repeated attacks on various publications and journalists writ large, many already rigorous national news organizations have become increasingly sensitive in rare instances in which reporters bungle major news stories.
CNN was criticized as overly harsh earlier this year when the network fired three high-level reporters and editors for misreporting a story about short-lived White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.
Yet despite Trump's constant rhetorical assault on the media, trust in some news organizations has risen during the president's time in office.
A Gallup poll released in June showed that trust in newspapers had risen from a record low of 20% last year to a slightly higher 27%, while trust in television news rose from an 18% record low in 2014 to 24% in June.