There's so much going on in the world that we need news anchors to give us reliable updates on what's going on. They've basically become celebrities. So who are the most and least trusted news anchors in America?
A list was compiled by Morning Consult by asking people who they trust the most and who they trust the least when it came to the news. How many people feel the same way about your best and worst hosts?
Ainsley Earhardt - 20%
Ainsley Earhardt said that she “did not know the first thing about politics” when she was first hired at Fox News in 2017. But years later, she has become one of the most trusted voices in political news, delivering the latest updates on one of Fox’s most highly rated shows, Fox & Friends.
“She comes right through the television,” veteran anchor Deborah Knapp told Business Insider. “It’s a rare quality to connect with people like she does. And the way she appears is exactly who she is. Ainsley is just full of goodness. I think people pick up on that, and people are attracted to that.”
Anderson Cooper - 29%
Not only was Anderson Cooper given a spot as one of the least trusted names in news, he was also given enough votes of confidence to make him the second most trusted name in news as well. As if anyone needed any more evidence that today’s news climate is a bit hot and cold.
While 19 percent said that they do not trust Cooper “at all”, many more — 29 percent — said that they trust Cooper “a lot” as a news anchor. Because of that, Morning Consult declared Cooper to be TV’s most polarizing figure in news. 46 percent of Democrats say they trust Cooper, while 32 percent of Republicans do not.
Chris Cuomo - 14%
Chris Cuomo had been trying to find his niche for a while now. Compared to Rachel Maddow his attacks directed towards government failures weren't clear. And his celebrity traits like workout videos on Instagram don't have anything to do with politics at all.
He seems to have been on the news quite often rather than presenting and talking about it. Like videos of him getting into heated arguments to critiques of his interviews with his brother, the New York Governor. 14% of people don't trust him.
Hoda Kotb - 24%
The data on Hoda Kotb is a little less conclusive, but according to a recent poll, we can comfortably place her at around 24%. This means that 24% of the people surveyed indicated that she is very trustworthy. Her score is solid. Kotb is the main co-host on Today, the morning show on NBC News.
Kotb is a long-time broadcast veteran. She has been in the business since at least 1998. So her vast wealth of experience probably helps her good trust rating. Also, since being a survivor of breast cancer herself, Kotb has become a big advocate for disease awareness. No matter what your politics are, this is something you can admire.
Jake Tapper - 19%
In 2020, Vanity Fair published an article titled “How Will CNN’s Jake Tapper Be Remembered In 30 Years?” And if this Morning Consult poll is any indication, then he will be remembered as one of the most trusted voices in news media. And we would say that that’s a pretty good legacy to hold.
As the chief Washington correspondent for CNN and the host of The Lead With Jake Tapper, Tapper has been gaining the public’s trust for years. “Unlike colleagues willing to pull punches to stay in the good graces of their high-powered sources, Tapper’s strategy is to do his homework and be right,” Politico Magazine wrote on Tapper.
Lara Logan - 18%
Lara Logan is a South African war correspondent who currently works at Fox Nation but for most of her career, she worked at CBS News. According to a small sample of about 1,200 people in August 2020, they liked her and thought she’s trustworthy. It’s easy to see why: she’s extremely brave. She has no problem being in a conflict and keeping it cool as she reports. In Egypt, she was the victim of a mob assault, and she escaped with injuries.
But she was highly criticized in 2013 for reporting false information about the Benghazi attack in Libya (she said her source was bad). She issued a public apology, but then a short time after, she took a public position on how the government was representing parts of the conflict. As people noted, taking a public position on something you’re reporting isn’t great. And following mixed reviews, she got an ok trust rating of about 18%
Chris Hayes - 18%
Progressive commentator and news anchor Chris Hayes is the host of the MSNBC news and opinion show All In with Chris Hayes, a part of the network’s weekday lineup. But it seems that when asked, news viewers are not exactly “all in” on Hayes. Instead, 18 percent said that they do not trust Hayes at all.
But it also seems like after 7 years of hosting a news television show, Hayes does not care about molding his show to please audiences. “It’s a business that revolves around audience attention and so the weirdly liberating thing is that I’m not thinking in those terms now,” Hayes told The New Yorker.
Lesley Stahl - 26%
Lesley Stahl is a veteran journalist who has spent most of her career working for CBS, conducting interviews on 60 Minutes. Data collected in the summer of 2020 showed that viewers thought of her very favorably. It’s not so surprising. After all, she has been in the business since 1971, so she has had some time to build up a substantial fanbase.
Of course, how much you like her might depending on where you stand politically, but it’s worth noting that she did get a lot of attention after her 2020 interview with President Trump. Their conversation got so heated that the president ended up cutting the interview short and walking out. In her own words, Stahl was heavy-handed on the “tough questions.”
John Dickerson - 19%
John Dickerson, the seasoned journalist, has spent most of his career working for CBS where he conducts interviews on 60 Minutes. He’s also the White House correspondent for Time. Recent polls revealed that about 19% of those surveyed said they can completely trust him. That’s a decent score. Not fantastic, but not bad at all.
There don’t seem to be any shocking specific events, incidents, or aspects that stick out in Dickerson’s career that would tip the trustworthiness ratings one way or the other. All in all, he’s a fairly well-rounded and respected journalist and broadcaster. Some have noted that he’s pretty good at not including his own political views in his reporting.
Savannah Guthrie - 21%
Savannah Guthrie is a co-anchor on NBC’s morning show Today. The data on her are a little more blurry, but from an internet poll conducted in the summer of 2020, she scored pretty high in the trust ratings – sitting at a comfortable 21%. Guthrie has a couple of things that stand out, which some have speculated, help increase the public’s trust in her.
One of them is that in addition to her journalism credentials, she holds a degree in law, which is an attractive thing to have when you’re dealing with finding the truth. Also, people like that during the 2020 town hall presidential debate talks, which she Guthrie moderated, she wasn’t afraid to “grill” the candidate in front of her.
Brian Williams – 24%
Brian Williams has, no pun intended, had a storied career. But while his ability to deliver updates and developments about even the most chaotic and devastating news items with a level head has helped launch him into stardom, it was also his storytelling that landed him in trouble.
In 2015, after 10 years anchoring NBC Nightly News, Williams was removed after it was found that he had fabricated a story about his experiences during the Iraq War. But since, Williams has returned to television as the host of MSNBC’s The 11th Hour with Brian Williams and seen huge success, despite its late time slot. And despite that scandal, he’s still one of news’ most trusted anchors.
Tamron Hall - 23%
Tamron Hall is a daytime anchor on MSNBC and the host of MSNBC Live with Tamron Hall. She got good trust rating scores on a recent survey: 23%. It might not come as a surprise. She’s been in business a long time and she has earned prestigious accolades for her work, including an Emmy. Also, she has done a lot of campaigning against domestic violence.
Other fans have noted that what makes her so well-liked is simple: she has tons of journalistic integrity, she’s very thorough in her fact-checking, regardless of what she’s reporting. Also, according to one writer in 2019, she’s not afraid to “take risks” on the air. Meaning she’s not afraid to broach the touchiest of subjects.
Christiane Amanpour - 22%
Christiane Amanpour is the Chief International Anchor for CNN and the host of CNN International’s nightly interview program Amanpour. She scored nicely on a recent poll, with a good number of people expressing strong support for her as a journalist. One thing is for sure: over the course of her career, she has developed a really diverse portfolio.
She has traveled all over the world, covering a wide range of topics, including the fall of European communism to the Iraq War. But beyond her reporting on international events, she has also starred in some feature documentaries. The most recent being Sex & Love Around the World, which recently aired on Netflix.
Sean Hannity - 30%
Fox News isn't just the most popular news channel in America but also the most popular network in the U.S. This is both during the day and at night. And one of their best hosts is Sean Hannity's show. If you look at ratings it one of the highest.
He may be one of the highest-rated news anchors, but he's also the most polarizing. He's either loved or hated, there doesn't seem to be any in-between. The poll had 30% of people saying they didn't trust him in the least.
Zain Asher - 16%
Zain Asher is a British Nigerian news anchor who works at CNN International. In a recent poll, she had a less-than-average number of respondents, but the results did indicate that her trust score was approaching the low end of the rainbow.
If you have a look at Asher’s career and her public profile, it seems that (as of this writing) there are no controversies or major events that have any serious potential of hurting her ratings. Maybe the low-ish ratings in the available poll reflect the fact that she’s not a seasoned veteran and she’s still carving out a name for herself.
Steve Doocy - 18%
Millions of Americans wake up to watch Steve Doocy and his Fox & Friends morning show every single day. But while the show might receive some high ratings, viewers are giving low ratings to this particular show host. And for years, Doocy has faced criticism for some of his more colorful views.
In the past, Doocy has been panned for some unsuccessful segments as he tries to wander the streets to do real-time reporting to no avail. In The Guardian, one report slammed the show and its hosts, writing “Fox & Friends main hosts – Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade – are a consistent train wreck of shameless hackery.” Wow, tell us how you really feel.
Andrea Mitchell - 23%
NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell is truly the real deal. She’s known for not only keeping her composure on television, but delivering some of the biggest scoops and most well-analyzed takes on the news of the day. During her long career covering the State Department, it is the small but mighty Mitchell who is known for standing up and asking the toughest questions.
And on the presidential campaign trail, Mitchell is known for being almost ninja-like in her way of being able to squeeze through scrums of reporters and somehow pop up in the middle of the action. And all that hard work has paid off, as she’s now one of the most trusted news anchors on television.
Dana Perino - 21%
Political fanatics were first introduced to Dana Perino as she stood at the presidential podium and delivered her daily briefing as former President George W. Bush’s White House press secretary. But nowadays, fans get to see her taking on a new role, hosting The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino on Fox News.
Perino has used her own experience of sitting in some of the most powerful rooms in Washington and has translated it to the small screen. Her takes on what matters in each news cycle seems to have an extra weight given the fact that she once was privy to all the ins and outs of the Oval Office.
Bianna Golodryga - 15%
Bianna Golodryga currently works as the senior global affairs analyst on CNN. In recent that collected information on trust ratings, she scored pretty low, with only 15% of those asked willing to put their trust in her. But she’s another one of those cases where it’s a little hard to tell what the reason could be.
There aren’t any scandals, no real controversy at all, no accusations of political bias, no incidents that she had to apologize for. Also, she’s not considered to harbor any controversial viewpoints. We’re not sure what the deal is – we can only speculate – but it could be because her husband was a staff member of Bill Clinton’s, so people might think she has some kind of preference for his side of the political spectrum.
Wolf Blitzer - 17%
We know it’s bad when famed media columnist Jack Shafer tweets “Could Wolf Blitzer be any duller?” followed by the headline “Wolf Blitzer of CNN, the dullest journalist in the world.” Ouch. But, to be fair, whether it is because of Blitzer’s monotone questioning or even-keeled interviews, Blitzer has faced criticism for being a news anchor that, well, doesn’t make much news.
Instead, Blitzer’s brand of anti-wave-making journalism has not necessarily earned him trust. In total, 17 percent of poll-takers said that they do not trust Blitzer at all. To give Blitzer some credit, 17 percent also said that they trust Blitzer “a lot.”
Alex Wagner - 16%
Surveys conducted on a sample of Americans show that around 16% of those asked say that Alex Wagner, the host of The Circuit, on Showtime, can be trusted. This isn’t a terrible score, but it’s not that high either. And it seems that more data needs to come in before we can really tell how trustworthy she is.
It’s tricky to tell why Wagner scores a little low on trust ratings. Some have speculated (and it’s not confirmed) that it might have to do with her father’s close ties to the campaign of Bill Clinton. And these days, Clinton happens to be a figure that divides people along partisan lines.
Brooke Baldwin - 16%
Brooke Baldwin has been working as an anchor on CNN since 2008. And she’s the host of CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin. The most recent surveys showed that she scored kind of low on trust ratings, with only 16% of the sample population saying that she can completely be trusted. Digging into her career and past reveals that, all things being equal, she does have a lot of good work experience and a solid education.
But there were a couple of moments that some have speculated affect how the public views her. In 2015, she made comments that suggested that veterans who return from duty and become police officers are somehow just hooked on violence. She apologized. And in 2017, she cut an interview short when her guest, Clay Travis, used a childish word to describe a female body part. Ironically, the interview was on the topic of free speech.
Chuck Todd - 19%
This might be some bad news for NBC. The network’s political director, Chuck Todd, was found by the Morning Consult to be one of the least trusted names in news, with 19 percent of respondents saying they do not trust him at all (to be fair, 19% also said that they trust him “a lot”).
Despite some negative ratings from viewers, Todd continues to be a staple of NBC’s news lineup. Not only is he in the coveted moderator seat for NBC’s Sunday show Meet The Press, he also hosts the spin-off MTP Daily and appears throughout the day on other shows as an on-air political analyst.
Erin Burnett - 16%
Erin Burnett is an anchor that has been working for CNN since 2008. And she’s the host of her own show, called Erin Burnett OutFront. Recent data shows that she didn’t score overly well in terms of public trust. Only 16% of people asked said they could put their full trust in her. As is the case for all anchors in this article, it could just be that they don’t know Burnett well.
But there’s a possibility that controversial moments have something to do with the rating. For one, in discussing a governmental Australian plan to put down a large number of feral camels, she used the terms “serial killer” and “camelcide.” She later said she was joking. And in 2011, she mocked protesters during Occupy Wall Street. Other journalists have noted that because her husband is a Wall Street trader, Burnett suffered from bias.
Katie Couric - 16%
Katie Couric is sort of a unique case. During her career, she has worked for NBC, CBS, and ABC, but currently, she works for herself. She founded a media called Katie Couric Media. And she writes a daily newsletter called Wake Up Call. Gathering data on her is trickier than most others because she isn’t in most recent surveys, but from what’s available, it looks like her trust ratings are relatively low – only about 16% of people trust her a lot.
It looks like the reason her trust ratings are pretty low is that she very outspoken with regards to her own political leanings. She’s allowed to be – after all, she’s not working for anyone else. But being such an outspoken progressive is a big turn off for some people on the conservative side of the political spectrum. For example, she has been accused of editing interview footage in an attempt to misrepresent gun rights groups.
Fredricka Whitfield - 18%
Fredricka Whitfield is a journalist that works for CNN. In the most recent survey asking about trust and public sentiment towards anchors, she had a relatively small number of respondents, so the results are a little shakier than average. But if they indicate anything, it looks like she scores around average, with 18% saying they like her.
Her CV shows years of solid reporting, but there are a couple of thorns in the side of her career, though it’s hard to tell if they affect her trust ratings. In 2014, she had an interview with late comedian Joan Rivers. She accused Rivers of wearing fur, meanwhile Whitfield herself wore leather shoes. Also, she referred to a gunman who attacked Dallas police as “courageous and brave.” Though she later issued an apology and said she misspoke.
George Stephanopoulos - 23%
George Stephanopoulos was not always supposed to be a journalist. In his early career, Stephanopoulos worked as the communications director for Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign, and went on to work as President Clinton’s communications director in the White House. But at age 35, he decided he needed a change.
And it turns out that it was a welcomed change, as Stephanopoulos deftly pivoted to a career in political television. Now, he is one of the most trusted names in news, according to Morning Consult, with 23 percent of respondents saying they trust him “a lot”. No wonder he has also been awarded the prestigious spot as the lead anchor for ABC’s Sunday news show, ABC‘s This Week.
Gayle King - 22%
Gayle King first began appearing on television screens as Oprah Winfrey’s best friend and most trusted confidant. And now that she has landed a spot on the wildly successful show CBS This Morning, it seems that she has also become one of America’s most trusted voices, as well. Twenty-two percent of respondents said that they trust King “a lot.”
And if King even had to prove herself after 40 years of local news reporting, she did so on the national stage in a big way. King has landed some headline-grabbing interviews, including one with singer R. Kelly, and has shown that she can land a tough line of questioning.
Nancy Grace - 26%
As you might already know, Nancy Grace is a newscasting superstar. She has done everything from celebrity reporting to legal and political commentary, including time on HLN. Formerly, she was a prosecutor. In a recent poll, she scored way higher than average. About 26% indicated very positive feelings toward her and her work.
When you’re a prosecutor dealing with criminal cases, and later a commentator and broadcaster, you’re bound to run into some turbulence. But the controversies (of which there are too many to list) seem to only make Grace more likable and trustworthy. And maybe seeing her show up all over the place in pop culture (e.g. as a character in Gone Girl) helps people trust her so much.
Kate Bolduan - 17%
Kate Bolduan is a newscaster who currently works for CNN. Surveys indicated that around 17% person of the sample population said they could trust her a lot. Her score is a little below average. But it doesn’t look like there are any bug incidents or scandals that could have impacted her trust ratings drastically.
So why is Bolduan’s trust score low? Well, it looks like it might just be the case people are not yet so familiar with her and her work. She’s only 37. When she was 29, she became the youngest major morning anchor on a major network, ever! So in some ways, she’s still an up and comer. Maybe if more polls are done in 10 years from now, we’ll see her with higher trust ratings. But then again, maybe not.
David Muir - 28%
ABC sees about 12 million viewers tuning in to their evening news programs. And among that lineup, David Muir takes the lead. As the host of World News Tonight with David Muir, Muir has become a household name due to the massive popularity of the show.
“I think that in this era, where people are really hungry for someone that they can trust and a team they can trust, that it’s just something they sense in their guy,” Muir told Time Magazine about public perception. And it seems that when it comes to the guts of the public, 28 percent told Morning Consult that they can trust Muir.
Jeanine Pirro - 14%
Jeanine Pirro is currently the host of Fox New’s Justice With Judge Jeanine. And as the name of her show implies, she is a former prosecutor and judge. In recent polls, she scored pretty low in the trust department. Only around 14% of respondents said they could confidently place a lot of trust in her.
She’s kind of a love-it-or-hate-it kind of woman. She’s very professional and she has an incredibly impressive wealth of diverse work experience, but she’s is very vocal about standing on the conservative side of politics. There’s certainly something to be said about sticking to your guns (no pun intended) and logically arguing your viewpoints. But her critics have brought into question the idea of her delivering objective reports.
Hallie Jackson - 19%
Hallie Jackson, one of the faces familiar to viewers of NBC, scored ok+ on the recent trust rating survey. 19% of people asked indicated they could consistently trust her reporting. She does seem to do a good job, and by now, she has accumulated a decent amount of experience, so an average score could make sense.
So far, it looks like Jackson has managed to stay clear of any controversies, scandals, or other trust-diminishing events. Although the Daily Mail did report that whenever she travels, she only eats baby food. “…I always pack squeeze-pouches of baby food from Happy Baby. It can be really tough to find decent veggies when you’re racking up highway miles or bouncing from airport to airport.” Bizarre maybe, but that shouldn’t affect trust.
Michaela Pereira - 18%
Michaela Pereira is a Canadian TV personality and news anchor that currently KTTV Los Angeles. In the past she has also worked for CNN. The information on her trust ratings is a bit outdated and messy, but she scored somewhere in the middle with about 18% strong approval.
She’s really accomplished as a broadcaster. She has even won a couple of Emmy Awards. And it doesn’t look like there’s anything in the history of her career that would hurt the public’s trust in her. It’s possible that she’s a little less known than your average American newscaster because she started her career in Canada.
Laura Ingraham - 20%
Laura Ingraham always gets straight to the point and always speaks her mind. It's sometimes gotten her into trouble and other times she's gained favor with a lot of viewers.
The Ingraham Angle, her Fox News Channel show, incorporates more of a political commentary than actual news updates. Because of this a lot of viewers have named her their favorite anchor. But 20% of people still say they wouldn't trust her.
Shannon Bream - 18%
Shannon Bream is a journalist that works for Fox News. She also hosts the channel’s Fox News @ Night. The recent surveys show that about 18% of respondents said they would really trust her. Not bad. Not amazing. Not terrible. Not remarkable. Still, she does have a solid viewership.
Though some people do consider a few of her views controversial, Bream is not usually so inflammatory. She manages to find common ground when she sits down with people who don’t necessarily share her views. Also, it helps that she has as an intern working in the House of Representatives, some people appreciate the direct political experience.
Rachel Maddow - 26%
Rachel Maddow reigns supreme when it comes to more liberal political news. The Rachel Maddow on MSNBC gets amazing ratings on their network even if it's not as high as its Fox counterpart.
Maddow doesn't like to hide her opinions and always speaks her mind. She has plenty of viewers that share her opinions but there are also plenty that don't with 26% of people saying that they don't trust what she has to say.
Jeff Glor - 17%
Jeff is the co-host on CBS This Morning: Saturday on CBS News. On the recent polls that were conducted, it looks like he scored kind of low, average minus, with 17% of people saying they can put their full trust in him. He does have some nice international experience. For example, he was the first American to report from Paris after Trump pulled out of the Paris Accord.
Doesn’t seem like there’s any scandalous behavior or major trust-breaking incidents in his past. But it might be worth noting that in 2019, he was fired from his role as the evening anchor at CBS (a position which he had for 12 years). Why? It looks like the network just wasn’t happy with him and wanted to switch up the vibe. But we’re not sure this has anything to do with how much the public trusts him.
Lisa Ling - 15%
Lisa Ling is the host of This Is Life with Lisa Ling, a show that airs on CNN. The sample of people that responded to a survey about her is kind of small, so the data is a little shakier, but it seems to be that she scored relatively low in terms of public approval and trust – around 15%.
There’s a good chance that her trust ratings just aren’t that high simply for the fact that she’s not super famous like some of the other newscasters and journalists out there. She doesn’t have any scandalous history. Or maybe, if people that responded to the survey know her, and depending where they fall politically, maybe they don’t like that she calls herself a die-hard feminist.
Harris Faulkner - 24%
Harris Faulkner is a Fox News veteran. She has been in the newscasting game for quite a while and has built up a solid viewership. Her trust ratings in recent a recent survey reflect her favorable and trustworthy status in the public’s eye. Around 24% of people asked indicated that they could trust her a lot. Really nice score.
It might be no wonder that people trust her so much. She has a great track record – she even has a few Emmy Awards – and she’s close to perfect at staying composed and objective no matter who she’s speaking to or what she’s reporting on. Note that she works for Fox News, a channel that people on the left of center don’t consider so reputable all the time. Nonetheless, it looks like people from both ends of politics trust her.
Norah O’Donnell - 18%
Norah O’Donnell is the anchor of CBS Evening News (she just recently replaced Jeff Glor.) And she’s also an interviewer on 60 Minutes. She has a solid background and a career full of experience. She also holds an Emmy Award for a groundbreaking story she reported in 2008. On the recent polls, she scored around average, with 18% of people saying they really trusted her. Not great, but not bad.
O’Donnell has been described as an “old-school” journalist. She’s data-driven, but for some, her unwillingness to take sides is a little boring. For others, it’s the secret ingredient in good reporting. Time said, “Nonjudgmental, neutral, reliable—these aren’t the most exciting ways to brand a broadcast in any era, but it’s a particularly difficult sell in 2020 when audiences are largely looking to affirm their own views.”
Katy Tur - 17%
Katy Tur, daughter of the famous journalist Zoey Tur, is currently an anchor working for MSNBC. She’s also the author of a best-selling book. Recent studies showed that around 17% of people said that they could trust her a lot. It’s not a great score, a little below average.
She did extensive reporting on the 2016 Trump campaign and she took strong standpoints, so maybe this made her less trustworthy in the eyes of some. But other than that, it doesn’t seem like she has suffered much controversy. She’s young, 37, and still in the relatively early stages of her career. So maybe the fact that she’s new has something to do with her low trust ratings in the recent poll.
Joe Scarborough - 22%
Like his partner, Mika Brzezinksi, Joe Scarborough can wake up any groggy viewer in the morning if they ran out of coffee. His political views are one of the most conservative on this list.
Scarborough is known to have healthy competition. Before going into media he was won four elections and was Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives. His voice carries a lot of weight in the news networks.
Robin Roberts - 28%
ABC’s Good Morning America has consistently been rated the most popular morning show in all of broadcast television. And in the Good Morning America world, Robin Roberts is the most trusted figure. The Morning Consult poll found that a generous 28 percent of respondents said that they trust Roberts “a lot”. But that’s not even the most impressive part.
Morning Consult reported that if the survey was taken with only the answers from what is known as the “key demographic” in television, meaning 25-49 year old viewers, Roberts would have placed first on this list. Fifty-three percent of people age 25-49 say they trust Roberts above every other news anchor on television.
Natalie Morales-Rhodes - 18%
Natalie Morales-Rhodes is a journalist and broadcaster that currently works for NBC News. She’s not as widely recognized as others, so the information on her needs to be taken with a fat grain of salt, but it seems that she scores around average in terms of approval and trust – about 18%.
Her average trust ratings appear to reflect the steady nature of her careers. There are ups and downs, but nothing super drastic. She does well, but she’s not quite a megastar. Nothing really working against her. Steady as she goes. What’s for sure is that she’s kind of new, so we’re sure she has many promising years of broadcasting ahead of her.
Lester Holt - 32%
Lester Holt of NBC comes in as the most trusted name in all of television news, with 32 percent of respondents saying that they trust him “a lot”. Holt took over the role of lead anchor for NBC Nightly News after Brian Williams left the spot open, and since then, he has been steadily rising in the ranks as one of NBC’s biggest stars.
Holt’s style of delivering the news without opinion means that he stands out among the rest, as more and more anchors have begun to cross the line from news into commentary. “Trust is at the heart of what we do,” Holt told The Hollywood Reporter when he received news of his ranking. “To me, there is no higher honor than to have earned that trust.” Just when you thought this list was over, the viewers have spoken, and there are some pretty interesting honorable mentions. So who else is the least or most trusted news anchor?!
Don Lemon - 25%
Don Lemon has worked on CNN for the past 14 years. But only recently did he become popular in the news industry. Lemon now hosts his own show called CNN Tonight with Don Lemon and is one of the most popular and few African-American anchors that hold that spot.
Even though Lemon has shot up in the news world and he's become popular amongst most American homes, there are still plenty of people that don't share his views. 25& of people said that they just don't trust what he has to say.
Mika Brzezinski - 23%
Mika Brzezinski definitely speaks her mind when it comes to politics. Her co-host and husband Joe Scarborough sits next to her every morning as she gets ready to share her opinion on the most powerful politicians, showing no mercy.
She has said that she doesn't care about any haters even when there are lots of them. Morning Joe gets great ratings, but it seems that 23% of people don't like what she has to say.
Chris Matthews - 22%
Hardball with Chris Matthews had been around since 1999 and even before that the anchor had another show called America's Talking. With all his time on TV, he's grown into a household name.
It seems with the way Chris Matthews likes to play ball a lot of viewers either love or hate what he has to say. Because of allegations of misconduct and an incident that needed an on-air apology, Matthews has announced that he will be stepping down from the network.
Tucker Carlson - 21%
Tucker Carlson was the favorite Republican news anchor on TV for a time. But when it came down to how well trusted he is, only 21% of people said that they would trust what comes out of his mouth.
But even though he has quite a low score, his ratings are the opposite with them competing with the highest networks on the Fox News Channel. More than 4.3 million people watched Carlson's opinion on all the most influential politicians in the world.
Craig Melvin - 21%
We've addressed all of the least trusted news anchors in the business, but now it's time to go through all of the most trusted ones. The first news anchor we have is Craig Melvin, he's an enthusiastic anchor both on the air and in real life.
Melvin has risen up the ranks of MSNBC after his viewers started skyrocketing. He became an anchor in the weekday line up and now he's got his own special spot on The Today Show.
Chris Wallace - 22%
In the world of conservative news anchors and commentators, most of the biggest names tend to be pretty polarizing. But there has been one Fox News host who has avoided all of that, and has remained a trusted news anchor within both liberal and conservative circles. And that man is Chris Wallace.
Wallace has held basically all of the coveted spots that any aspiring news anchor could ever want. Not only does he hold his impressive spot as the host of Fox News Channel’s Sunday show, Fox News Sunday, but he’s also worked as an anchor for NBC Nightly News, Meet the Press, and Nightline. Now that is a solid — and, apparently, trustworthy — résumé.
Harris Faulkner - 24%
Harris Faulkner started her career at Fox News Channel’s Outnumbered, sitting alongside three other women and a “#OneLuckyGuy” talking about the politics of the day. It could be argued that this was Fox News’ version of The View. But in this new world that Fox created, Faulkner managed to stand out above the rest.
She separated herself from the arguments and delivered level-headed, heartfelt news commentary. And out of all the women who have been cast on Outnumbered, only Faulkner made the list of the most trusted news anchors, with 24 percent of people polled saying that they trust her “a lot”.
Juan Williams - 19%
Journalist and Political Analyst Juan Williams writes for The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, but he is most known for his work on Fox News. Williams has made a name for himself at the channel for being one of the few registered Democrats to appear in their lineup.
Williams was even the go-to guy to guest host one of Fox News’ most popular shows at the time, The O’Reilly Factor. But while he provides welcome counterpoints to some of Fox News’ discussions, it seems that viewers do not trust Williams very much. Nineteen percent of respondents said that they do not trust Williams at all.