It turns out we don’t like the news, but it really depends on who’s delivering it.
According to a Morning Consult poll on brand favorability (provided to the political newsletter Axios), 12 of the 15 most polarizing brands in the U.S. are news media companies.
And that favorability — of lack of — is partisan and continues to widen. While Trump Hotels has the widest disparity in opinion on the list, CNN, Fox News and the New York Times are close behind in favorability difference by political party affiliation.
“The gap is being driven by substantial decreases in net favorability among Republicans across most media brands other than Fox News,” as Axios reports, noting that CNN had a 12-point drop in favorability in just the last year from Republicans (while Fox News had a 20-point drop amongst Democrats). Republicans actually held negative opinions on all media outlets except Fox News. Fox, Fox Nation and Fox Business also make appearances on the list. As Sara Fischer of Axios points out, “Even outlets that are generally considered non-partisan, like ABC News and CNBC.” So all news is bad news? Or something like that.
Among non-media outlets, the gun brand Smith & Wesson and the apparel brand Nike (which has a deal with Colin Kaepernick) also made an appearance in the top 15. Interestingly, the NFL increased its favorability after finishing 6th last year, when the National Anthem/kneeling controversy was still in play.
The poll surveyed 3,700 brands and received over 336,000 responses between July and August.
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