While the news from Harvard CAPS/Harris’ recent poll that received the most coverage was former President Donald Trump’s lead over President Joe Biden, the poll also demonstrates that a majority of American voters disagree with corporate media narratives. Journalist Glenn Greenwald drew attention to the report and key themes on Twitter over the weekend.
The Harris Poll and HarrisX conducted an online survey on May 17-18, 2023, of 2,004 registered U.S. voters, weighing the results by demographics according to their proportion in the population and likelihood of online presence.
According to key results released on May 19, a majority of Americans believe the allegations included in the Steele dossier and Russia collusion stories are “false,” but approximately 70 percent of Democrats still believe those corporate media lies.
A majority of Americans also know “the Hunter Biden laptop is real.” A majority of Democrats, however, still believe legacy media’s claim — devised by Biden’s team and a cohort of corrupt intelligence officials — that it was Russian disinformation.
Most voters surveyed don’t believe the FBI and Department of Justice are “fully investigating” Hunter’s laptop, but almost two-thirds of voters think Hunter was involved in “illegal influence peddling and tax evasion.” Almost half of those polled are not yet convinced President Biden was involved in his son’s schemes.
Meanwhile, a majority of voters think President Biden is not demonstrating his fitness for office, with 57 percent of respondents saying he is mentally unfit and a whopping 65 percent saying he is “too old.”
Across partisan lines, voters are also “very concerned” about “interference by the FBI and intelligence agencies in a future presidential election” and believe the government needs “wide-ranging reform” to prevent that possibility.
As Greenwald concluded, the Harvard/Harris poll provides a shocking insight into the number of Americans whose views are unrepresented in the news they watch every day. Declining trust in legacy media should be far less surprising than the sheer amount of influence they still hold, particularly over the minds of Democrat voters.
