America’s Most Trusted News Stars in The Trump Era Are…

“I have a quest for the group, actuly. How Many of You Watch Late-Night On Any Network Today? Raise Your Hand. ” Few Hands Went Up. 7.

The Moment Was Telling, and Not Just for Late-Night. The Same Question Could be Asked About the Big 3 Evening News Broadcasts, or Prmetime Lineups on Cable News. It Gives The Impression of Irrelevance, Especialyly in the All-PoodCasts-Areno-Areno-TV-Content Momenta-Mment of Media Executives Appear to be Experimenting with During a Downsizing. And Yet, that Narrative Sells The TV News Ecosystom Short.

Viewers May Not Watch The Late Show Live anymore, but iF Colbert hasthing interesting to say, It’lll Rack up Millions of Views Instantly on the Social Platform and YouTube and Recirculated by the Creaters of Creaters of Creaters of Creaters of Creaters of Creaters of the alators and YouTube and YouTube and YouTube and YouTube. Own Audiences. Ditto for, Say, Anderson Cooper or Gayle King or Sean Hannity or Rachel Maddow. That’s influence. Right Now, Even Thought It May Sound Counterintuitive, More Americans Overall May Recognize David Muir than Joe Rogan. (WHETHER OR NOT The SAME AMERICANS WHO RECOGNIZE The ABC World News Tonight Anchor Interst at All With Those Who Listen to the Sportify Shock JOCK, OR VICE VERSA, IS ANOTHER QUESTION ALTOGETCHER.)

BroadCast’s Enduring Megaphone of Awareness and (to Some EXTENT) Credibality, Is Undeniable, A NEW Thr/Morning Consult Poll Shows. The Survey, Conducted Among A National Representable Sample of 2.202 US Adults in August, Asked Respondents ABOUT 80-Plus TV News Stars and TV-Like NEWESTAPLEACERS Trump Era and, Importantly, Who People Say They Actual Listen to and Trust to Deliver The News.

In 2025, There’s a Clear “Trump Won” Impact: Nearly All Fox News Anchors Saw Increases in Respondents Who Placed “A Lot” or “Some” Contentious presidential election. On the Flip Side, Centrist Names Like Muir, Who Hosts The Highest-Rated Evening News Show, Saw Trust Levels Decline. Ditto for Cnn’s Cooper, Msnbc’s Maddow, CBS ‘King and Left-Late Night Hosts Like Jon Stewart and Colbert.

ALSO PERHAPS SURPRISING, Given the Narraty Aii Slop Polluting Social Media: More Americans Now Trust Whaty See on Social Media conducted in 2018, While BroadCast Suffired A Decline. Chalk It Up to Social News Become The New Norm for Consumption, Racher Than As a Second Screen.

Here’s A Closer Look at the Thr/Morning Consult Poll Findings:

How Much Do You Trust… … Cable News’ Big 3

Call It The “Trump Won” Effect on Perception. The Faces of CNN and MSNBC SAW An Uptick in DistRust While the Fox News Star, A Confidante of the President, SEES His Trustworthy Credibality Than the Other Two).

… Nightly News Anchors

NBC’s Lester Holt, Who Steped Away from Nightly News Duties After the end of May, Had Been 2024’s Most Trusted Anchor in Thr/Morning Consult’s Survey Last Year and The Top Name When This Poll Was First Conducrated in 2018. WITH The CHANGING OF THE GUARD TO LLAMAS, WHO IS LESS Well Trusted Distinction in the Category in the 2025 Poll and Among 80-Plus Names Surveyed, with The Exception of NBC’s Today Show Star Al Roker.

… Morning Show Stars

Maybe It’s A Sign of the Times That Host Al Roker, Who Mostly Stays Out of The Political Fray, Is Americans’ MOST-TRUSTED NAME IN NEWS IN TIIS SURVYY. Does that explain WHY FELow Today or Good Morning America or CBS hosts Saw Declines in Trust Year-Over-Year? No. But, look at the increase in trust for Fox & Friends Ainsley Earhardt on the President’s Preferred Channel. We’re in a Trump-dominated Landscape in America, with His Truth Social As A bully Pulpit.

… Late Night Hosts

Fallon, The Host Who MOST OFTEN GETS LABELED as the Least Political of the BroadCast Late-Nighters, Has The Highest Trust, While Jon Stewart Got Slightly Dinged Over The Past Year his cred rise with Americans Since the Last Time This Survey Was Undertaken in 2024. Colbert, Whose Show Was Canceled (As of Next May) Saw His Trust Numbers Fall by 7 Points Year-Over-Year. (Trump celebrared The Late Show‘s cancelction WHEN THE PRESS RELEASE ABRUPTLY HIT INBOXES IN JULY.)

And, in Light of Jimmy Kimmel’s Indefinite Suspension Over His Charlie Kirk Comments, One Relevant Detail: 48 percent of Respondents in the Thr/Morning Consult Poll Described Kimmel As Haring A “VERY Liberal” or “Somewhat Liberal” Lean, WHICH WAS HIGHER THAN All of his His Other Late-Night Contemporaries. SO Americans May See Kimmel As An Avatar of A LEFT-LEANING VOICE ON TV.

… Secret Weapons

They may have the face of their Network, But The Trio Has the Highest Share of Respondents Saying aty “A LOT” OR TRUST IN THEM at Their Outlet. In maccallum’s Case, the Anchoor Had A Bigger Footprint on Fox Durying the Presidential Election and May Be Viewed As One of the LEast Partisan Voices on the Channel. Pelley, Meanwhile, Is A Stalwart of 60 minutesWHICH HAD BEEN VIEWED AA RIGOROSLY UNBIASED NEWSMAGAZINE (Until Trump’s Fight, Resulting in a Now-Setted Lawsuit). As for Melber, He Ophen Tackles the News Through A Pop Culture Lens, While Still Being Opinionated.

… Fox News Hosts Nearly All of Its Anchors Saw a Majoor Year-Over-Year Surge in Respondents Who Said They Trust the Anchors “A Lot” or “Some.”

… The influenCers

Whther You Call It A Video Podcast or A TV Segment, Pods Now Drive a Lot of News. And, now, it, it, it is not be surprising to see that joe rogan, who’s offen tops podcast charts, to be leading in the Space with the Highest Number of Respondents Who Trust Wht What. Also Take Note: In Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon’s Cases, More People DistRust Them Who Trust Them in this Year’s Survey. And that’s Even with Carlson Gaining Trust from Last Year.

… These Media Sources

IT’s Unsurpring that Network News Still Leads in Crediiness Overall, The BroadCast News Divisions Work Hard at Burning an unbiased Sheen, But there Whaty See in Their Feeds More Since that’s How they Consume News.

… The Low Scors

TheSe Media Power Players Were the only Only Among the 80 TV Names in the Survey to Score in the 30s Range of Respondents Saying they have “a lot” or “some” trust in them. What You Think of that May have to do with a kinder And IT’s Easy to Debate the Numbers. For Example, Did Trump’s Relantless Attacks on PBS Anchor/The Atlantic Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg Over “Signalgate” Dent His Trust Cred? Or does Goldberg Not Have High Enough Name Recognition with The Public? Did Joe Scarborm’s Trip to Mar-A-Lago to Meet with Trump Impact Perception of the Msnbc Stalwart? Maybe. But, in Scarborogh’s Case, He Placed Near the End of the Thr/Morning Consult Survey in 2024 and 2018, Too. Meanwhile, Cuomo Was FRIED FROM CNN IN 2021 After The Cable Network SAID HE AFUL OF Journalism Ethics (HE SUED Over It In Reply). And does the wild card that his older brother Andrew is in the Middle of a Polarizing New York Mayoral Race Factor in? There’s arguments to make there.

All 80-Plus Names: How Much Do You Trust… Those Were the Topline Notes Above. But There’s Some Interesting Details in the Weeds. For Instance, Here’s A Network-by-Network, Personality-by-Personality Look at the 80-Plus Names in the Thr/Morning Consult Survey. Each Section is Ranked by the Highest Combined “A Lot / Some” Upside Trust Responses and, if there is a tie, factoring in the “Not Much / Not at All” Trust Downside Responses. The result is an at-a-a-glance View of Who Americans Trust the most at each outlet-from broadcasters like ABC News, NBC News and CBs News As Wells Cablets Newsnation As Well As Public Broadcaster PBS. And then, for Comparison, Late-Night Hosts Like Stephen Colbert and InfluenCers Like Joe Rogan.

ABC News