Pew: 56% of Republican-leaning consumers trust Fox

It’s no secret that FNC is a ratings powerhouse — but a recent Pew Research Center survey shows that the brand’s trust among right-leaning consumers is correspondingly high.

Among the Republicans and Republican-leaning independents surveyed by Pew, 56% of them said they trust the network as a source. 21% said they distrust it. Respondents self-identified their place on the political spectrum. 

FNC ranked well ahead of other media outlets and brands included in the survey, with no others even managing to inch past the one-third mark.

For example, mainstream outlets ABC News scored a 26%, with NBC News at 25% and CBS News with 23%.

The podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” was able to score 31%, among the highest of any Pew asked about.

A Pew study conducted earlier in 2025 showed that 38% of Americans “regularly” get information from FNC, which is in line with ABC News’ 36% and NBC News’ 35%.

Among those were 18% of those identifying as Democrats or left-of-center independents.

Meanwhile, 37% of all adults surveyed said they trust FNC as a source but 42% indicated they distrust the network, which is highest among the brands Pew asked about.

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Not surprisingly, among Democrats and left-leaning independents, 64% say they distrust FNC and 19% said they do trust it. Among “liberal” Democrats, 78% distrust the network, which is a significant increase from the 54% of more conservative or moderate-identifying Democrats who said they don’t trust FNC.

Pew noted that FNC had a considerably higher distrust rating than sources including Newsmax, “Rogan” and Breitbart, but cautioned that number could be skewed because considerably more respondents were familiar with FNC than the other brands and, by design, the survey only asked those who had heard of any particular brand if they trust it or not.

The survey also found that the typical FNC consumer leans right, but “Rogan,” The Daily Wire, Newsmax, Trucker Carlson and Breitbart’s audiences all leaned more heavily to the right based on Pew’s methodology. Pew did note that this result is at least partially because a larger share of Democrats regularly get news from FNC than from these other sources.

Pew also found that 47% of Americans age 65 or higher “regularly” get information from FNC. For the slightly younger age range, 45% of those ages 50 to 64 cited FNC as a regular source of information.

When shifting even younger, those in the 30 to 49 age range saw lower rates. 32% of these consumers said they regularly get information from FNC, while the figure dropped to 28% for adults under 30. Younger audiences are also less likely to get news from television in general, however.

Trust levels increased among older Republicans with 76% of those identifying with the GOP age 65 and older said they trust the network. For those Republicans under 30, that figure was 41% and the figure dropped to around 20% among self-identifying Dems under 30.

Shortly before 2024 election day, Pew found that  half of Americans said FNC was either a “major” or “minor” source of political and election information prior to that point. Broken down, 22% said it was a “major” source with 28% saying it was “minor.” When comparing how respondents identify politically, 69% of Republicans said FNC was at least a minor source of election information for them while 32% of Democrats responded the same way.

The same survey also asked participants an open-ended question about their main source for political news and information. FNC got 13% of the responses, with 10% citing CNN, 6% indicating local TV news and 5% responding with ABC News. While 22% of adults age 65 and other in that survey said FNC was their “main” source for political information, only 5% of those under 30 had the same response.

FNC has long been cited as a right-leaning network, though others, such as OAN and Newsmax, tend to lean even farther right (but don’t have nearly the viewership of FNC).

The network’s parent, Fox Corp., is owned by conservative Australian billionaire Rupert Murdoch. 

FNC has been criticized for allowing its hosts to play loose with facts, with some delving into conspiracy theories and false information. The network ended up paying $787 million to settle a defamation suit brought by Dominion Voting Systems over false claims that the company’s technology flipped votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. As part of the settlement, FNC acknowledged “the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false,” but did not outright admit wrongdoing or apologize for its broadcasts.

Dominion had alleged that FNC allowed commentators to repeatedly make false claims about election machines on FNC and its sister business network. FNC lawyers argued the claims were “pure opinion” and should be shielded from defamation claims.

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The network did not initially indicate that the segments in question were opinion, but did start adding disclaimers when segmented delved into claims about voting technology for a period. 

FNC is still facing a $2.7 billion defamation suit from Smartmatic, another voting technology firm.

Supports of FNC argue that the network is free to air commentary and opinion mixed in with other programming. Indeed, this follows a pattern that other outlets also use, including the more centric- and left-leaning talent on MSNBC and CNN.

Some also argue that FNC is a much-needed conservative voice among the “liberal media.”

Journalism and media experts, however, often taken issue with FNC’s flashy style of beefing up stories that align with right-leaning viewers. Some also say this takes advantage of consumers who may not understand the line between news coverage and commentary and analysis.