According to a recent Gallup/Knight Foundation poll aggregating approximately 2,800 responses, Tucker Carlson is the “public individual” from whom most Americans get their information.
Gallup offered a broad definition of “public individual” to participants, including anyone who had “public influence (for example, a celebrity, journalist, academic expert, show host, online influencer, or business leader).”
Despite the wide field of options, most participants still chose media personalities. Carlson ranked first out of 900 unique individuals, with 113 of 2,800 respondents mentioning his name as the “one public individual” they watched or followed most often.
In a result that marks the public’s growing mistrust of legacy media, leftist comedians Trevor Noah and Stephen Colbert also ranked in the top 10, higher than credentialed scientists, current and former presidents, journalists, and Joe Rogan.
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow came in at a close second. Maddow was the only figure besides Carlson to receive more than 100 mentions.
Other notable media personalities ranking lower than Carlson include his former coworker Sean Hannity, facts-over-feelings media personality Ben Shapiro, and corporate media personalities Lester Holt and David Muir.
Carlson took up 4 percent of total responses, with the top 20 individuals garnering 24 percent.
The poll also demonstrated that Americans are primarily motivated by likability and trustworthiness when choosing who to turn to for information. Entertainment value and perspectives coming from outside the legacy media bubble were also highly ranked priorities.
The poll was released during a time of uncertainty for Carlson. However, earlier this month, he announced he would resume his nightly show on the social media platform Twitter. A recent poll from Change Research also showed that Carlson is currently morepopular among registered voters than his former network.
Samuel Boehlke is a rising senior in Mass Communication/Law and Policy at Concordia University Wisconsin and a current intern at The Federalist. He is Web Editor for CUW’s The Beacon and External Affairs Editor for Quaestus Journal. Reach him at sboehlkefdrlst@gmail.com or by DMs @vaguelymayo.
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