Three weeks out from the Nov. 3 midterms, a new survey shows how far political news has moved from the anchor desk. S
ix in 10 Americans say they trust a well-known independent news creator as much as a well-known professional journalist on political topics, according to the first monthly Flash Report from Syracuse University’s Center for the Creator Economy.
Social media now beats traditional outlets as a source for political and election news, 60% to about 32%. By individual platform, YouTube came out on top at 16.5%, just ahead of TV news at 16.1% and news sites and apps at 15.7%. X followed at 14.8%, with Facebook and TikTok both near 10% and Instagram at 7.3%. Podcasts, newsletters and LinkedIn each landed under 4%.
Trusting creators doesn’t mean people think they’re the same thing, though. Nearly 80% said there’s a meaningful difference between a creator and a journalist, and about 41% still trust journalists more overall. On accuracy, 46% trust professional journalists a lot or a great deal, compared with 28% for independent creators. News outlets drew the most outright distrust, with almost 10% saying they don’t trust them at all, about 2.5 times the rate for creators.
Almost 86% said they trust creators more when they publicly fix their mistakes, the highest agreement in the survey. Two-thirds said doing the reporting matters more than having a journalism degree. Verified badges barely moved anyone, with roughly as many people disagreeing as agreeing that a check mark makes them trust content more.
AI summaries aren’t winning people over either. Given the choice, 77% prefer a human news creator to an AI-generated recap. And 63% said the platform shapes how credible a claim feels, even when the content is identical.
Trust in creators ran higher among Republican and Black respondents, while trust in journalists and news outlets ran higher among Democratic and Black respondents.
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The survey polled 1,001 U.S. adults through the online research platform Prolific on Sept. 26.
