Poll: 59% of Americans Say They Feel Misunderstood by Media

Most Americans say news organizations don’t understand “people like them,” but the reasons why people feel misunderstood by the media varies across racial and political lines, according to a new poll.

A Pew Research Center poll released Thursday indicates that nearly 6 in 10 Americans say that news companies don’t understand them.

Poll results show:

• 59% of Americans say news organizations don’t understand people like them.
• 37% of Americans say they feel understood by the media.
• 34% of Americans say their political views are misunderstood by news organizations.
• 30% of Americans say the media doesn’t understand their social or economic class.

Pew’s poll states that Black Americans are more likely to feel misunderstood by the media based on their “personal characteristics” at 34%, while white Americans say it is their political views that are the reason they are misunderstood at 39%.

Hispanic Americans are more likely to think that their personal interests are what is misunderstood most by the media at 26%, compared with 16% of Black and 17% of white adults.

There is also a political divide in how people feel the media understands them.

“Republicans who feel news organizations misunderstand them are far more likely to say their political views are most misunderstood, while Democrats are somewhat more likely to cite their social class, personal interests and personal characteristics,” the report states.

The poll surveyed 10,300 Americans between Feb. 18-March 2. The margin of error is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. 

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