Poll: Fox News still polarizing

What you think of the conservative news network depends on whether you agree with them

Published August 17, 2009 10:18PM (EDT)

Maybe Fox News Channel's "We Report, You Decide" tag line is accurate, after all. Unfortunately for the network, though, it seems anyone who doesn't already agree with the Fox worldview is deciding against it.

The network has seen its ratings increase during the course of the last year, but a new poll shows the cable news station, much like its brethren, remains a polarizing news outlet to many viewers.

According to the Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll, only 34 percent of respondents said Fox News was a reliable source, compared to the 41 percent who called it unreliable. Its competitors, CNN and MSNBC, didn't fare much better in the poll. CNN matched its 44 percent reliability rating with a 44 percent unreliability rating, and MSNBC raked in a 23 percent reliability rating compared to a 17 percent unreliability rating. The poll was conducted earlier this month and surveyed 2,400 people with a 2 percent margin of error.

But broken down by party identification, the poll shows impressions of the networks are even more split. More than two-thirds of Democrats -- 68 percent -- rated Fox News as unreliable, compared to just 11 percent of Republicans. Sixty-one percent of Republican respondents called CNN unreliable, compared to 20 percent of Democrats. MSNBC tallied 31 percent unreliable marks from Republicans and just 7 percent from Democrats.


By Tim Bella

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