80% Americans believe media was biased in 2016 US elections: Poll

Washington: Amid endless disputes about media bias in the 2016 US presidential election, 80 per cent Americans believe the media was biased towards one of the candidates, according to a recent poll.

An overwhelming majority (80 per cent) of Americans believe the media were biased towards one or the other of the candidates in the coverage of the presidential election, a poll by Sputnik news agency said.

At the same time, nearly 59 per cent of respondents said neither local nor national media were objective. 

According to the poll, 16 per cent of Americans believe the national media favoured one of the candidates, while local outlets remained objective. On the contrary, 5 per cent said only local media were biased. 

Only 20 per cent respondents believed that the US media provided balanced coverage of the candidates.

The survey, involving as many as 1,012 respondents aged between 18-64, was conducted from November 3-7 2016 by the TNS UK research company in the US for Sputnik news agency and radio. 

Respondents were asked the following question -- "Regarding the presidential campaign in the United States, do you think that the media were biased towards one of the candidates?"