Voters divided over trusting Trump or media

Washington, Feb 18 (IANS) A new Fox News poll has found that slightly more US voters trust President Donald Trump’s administration to tell the truth than the media.

The poll released on Friday found that 45 per cent of voters trust the White House to "tell the public the truth" while 42 per cent of voters could say the same about the news media.

Ten per cent of responders remained undecided.

The poll also revealed that 68 per cent of voters believe that the media has been tougher on Trump than his predecessor President Barack Obama.

Only 18 per cent of responders believe that the media has been giving President Trump an easier time, while 12 per cent believe that both are treated the same.

A 55 per cent majority also believes that the media should "cover the president aggressively", while 28 per cent think its better to give the commander-in-chief the "benefit of the doubt", according to the survey.

The Fox poll last asked a similar question in June 2006.

At that time, "news reporters" were more trusted than "government officials" by a 40-25 per cent margin, with 26 per cent saying neither.

The poll was based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,013 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted from February 11-13.

The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters.