The poll found that 80 percent of respondents believed online news sources reported fake news either regularly or occasionally. | Getty Poll: 6 in 10 Americans think traditional news outlets report fake news

A majority of Americans believe traditional media outlets publish fake news reports, and Republicans are more likely to believe that fake news is being pushed to advance an agenda, according to a Monmouth University poll released Wednesday.

The poll, which was conducted by phone during the first week of March, found that 80 percent of respondents believed online news sources reported fake news either regularly or occasionally. Fifty-four percent of respondents, including a majority of Republicans, independents and Democrats, said that fake news reports online were published on purpose in order to advance a specific agenda,


Respondents had only slightly more trust in traditional news outlets, with 60 percent of respondents believing that traditional news outlets reported fake news either regularly or occasionally and 40 percent saying that they believed traditional news outlets reported fake news on purpose to push an agenda.

Seventeen percent of respondents said they believed fake news was reported on by traditional outlets by accident or because of poor fact-checking, and about a third of respondents said they did not believe that major outlets reported fake news.

Across the board, self-identified Republican respondents were more suspicious of the motivations behind the publication of fake news in traditional media and online. Fifty-five percent of Republican respondents believed that fake news was reported on intentionally by traditional news outlets to advance a specific agenda, compared to 41 percent of independents and 24 percent of Democrats.

A plurality of respondents said that they trusted news from ABC News, Fox News and MSNBC more than they trusted news from President Donald Trump. Republicans were far more likely to trust Trump over ABC News and MSNBC, and about 44 percent of Republican respondents said they trusted Trump and Fox News equally.

More than 80 percent of respondents said Trump had a worse relationship with the news media than previous administrations, and 58 percent said that the relationship Trump had with the news media is hurting his image. Thirty-two percent of respondents said that Trump’s relationship with the news media did not affect his image, and 7 percent said that it helped his image. Conversely, 51 percent of respondents said the news media’s image was negatively impacted by its relationship with Trump. Thirty-nine percent said the news media’s image was not affected by its relationship with Trump, and 6 percent said that its image had improved.