More than four in ten Americans say the mainstream news media in the U.S. doesn't support democracy well, according to a new survey released Tuesday that shows Americans' souring attitude towards the media.

A Gallup poll released Tuesday shows that 43 percent of Americans say the news media supports democracy "poorly" or "very poorly," while another 27 percent say the media supports democracy "acceptably."

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Just 28 percent of Americans now say the mainstream news media supports democracy "well" or "very well," with independents and Republicans breaking sharply from Democrats on the issue.

Fifty percent of Democrats still say the mainstream media does a good job at supporting democracy, compared to just 23 percent of independents and 10 percent of Republicans.

Just 17 percent of Democrats said the media was doing its job "poorly" or "very poorly," compared to a much higher 69 percent among Republicans and 47 percent among independent voters.

A majority of Americans still say the media is "critical" to keeping citizens informed (54 percent), suggesting that Americans still believe the media has an important job to do, but is failing. That number is also higher among Democrats than Republicans (54 percent to 33 percent), but 46 percent of Republicans still say that the media is "very important" to protecting democracy.

The Gallup/Knight Foundation poll contacted 19,196 U.S. adults from all 50 states from Aug. 4 to Oct. 2, 2017. The poll carries a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point.