Fox News is the most trusted source for Obamacare information, at least according to a new poll.
The online poll was conducted by YouGov , a UK-based market research firm that does a lot of politically-oriented opinion surveys. About 1,000 Americans responded to questions about where they obtain information about the controversial healthcare law, officially known as the Affordable Care Act.
YouGov summarized its findings as follows: “The latest research from YouGov shows that when Americans are asked to pick the one source of information about the new health care law that they trust the most, Fox News Channel (also known as Fox News ) tops the list. Most trusted by 19% of Americans, the basic cable news channel narrowly beats out ‘friends and family’ (17%). President Obama (11%) is the third most trusted source, followed by National Public Radio (10%) and people’s own insurance companies (9%).”
Republicans and Democrats predictably differed significantly about their perceptions of Fox News ‘ coverage of Obamacare, and “Independents are evenly split, with 39% trusting Fox News at least somewhat but 39% not trusting Fox News much at all.”
The polling data also suggested that when it comes to Obamacare, viewers trust Fox more than any of the other cable news networks. MSNBC is one of the least trusted cable news networks, according to this particular survey.
In a related development, Fox News has been surging in the cable news viewership ratings since it reshuffled its prime time lineup, which included Megyn Kelly getting the coveted 9 pm Eastern slot formerly occupied by Sean Hannity. FNC currently has about double the ratings of MSNBC and CNN put together. TVNewser explains that “Fox News had its second-highest rated week of the year in prime time last week, second only to the week of the Boston Marathon bombing in April. From 8pm to 11pm ET, the network averaged 2,098,000 total viewers and 376,000 A25-54 viewers, ranking second in all of cable. By comparison, MSNBC averaged 716,000 total viewers and 202,000 A25-54 viewers, while CNN had 433,000 viewers and 146,000 viewers, respectively.”
What network, if any, do you tend to watch for Obamacare news?
