Trust in Media: The Long, Declining Road

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

The voice of the world in numbers

Nov. 12, 2024

Welcome to Front Page, where we break down Gallup's latest insights on our constantly evolving world. Here are the five insights you shouldn't miss this week:

1. Trust in Media: The Long, Declining Road

Line Chart: 31% of Americans say they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media in 2024.

The Data: Americans continue to register record-low trust in the mass media, with 31% saying they have a great deal (8%) or fair amount (23%) of confidence in the media to report the news “fully, accurately and fairly,” one percentage point below the prior record low of 32% recorded last year and in 2016.

The Trend: Gallup first asked this question in 1972 and has measured it in most years since 1997. In three readings in the 1970s, trust ranged from 68% to 72%, yet by the next readings in the late 1990s and early 2000s, smaller majorities of 51% to 55% trusted the news media. The latest findings are from Gallup's annual Governance poll, which measures trust in the media along with major civic and political entities in the U.S.

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2. Hundreds of Millions Worldwide Want to Migrate

Line Chart: The desire to migrate permanently across global regions, from 2011 to 2023.

The Data: Gallup's latest global migration data show that people's desire to leave their country is higher than it was a decade ago. This is true in almost every region where this question is asked, including typically migrant-sending regions such as sub-Saharan Africa (37%), Latin America and the Caribbean (28%), and the Middle East and North Africa (26%) and typically migrant-receiving regions like the U.S. and Canada (18%).

Changes: Some of the biggest increases since 2011 in people's desire to leave their country have occurred in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and the U.S. and Canada.

Line Chart: 18% of potential migrants said they would like to move to the U.S. in 2023.

The Data: The top countries where potential migrants say they would like to move to, if they could, have generally been the same since Gallup started tracking these data in 2007, with the U.S. leading the list every year.

U.S. Trend: In 2023, just under one in five potential migrants (18%) — equivalent to an estimated 170 million adults worldwide — named the U.S. as their desired future residence. However, this figure remains at the lower level seen since 2017-2018.

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4. Americans' Crime Fears Ease

Line Chart: 64% of Americans say there is more crime in the U.S. than a year ago.

The Data: While most U.S. adults continue to believe crime is increasing, the percentage saying so fell by 13 points this year, to 64%. Similarly, the percentage describing the national crime problem as highly serious dipped by seven points, to 56%.

Recent Trend: Between 2020 and 2023, Americans' views of the trajectory of crime in the U.S. were the worst they had been since the 1990s, and their perceptions of national crime being a highly serious problem reached their highest point in Gallup's trend dating back to 2000.

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5. 'Cannabis Curious' Stabilizes

Line Chart: 47% of U.S. adults say they have ever tried marijuana in 2024.

The Data: The percentage of Americans who say they have ever tried marijuana has leveled off at just under 50%. Most recently, according to combined data from 2023-2024, 47% of U.S. adults say they've tried it.

Smokers: Separately, as of 2023-2024, 15% of Americans report they smoke marijuana, about double the rate recorded 10 years ago.