I’m putting a question mark on the headline just because PPP is, after all, associated with the left (they poll for Kos) and Fox is, after all, regarded by liberals as the news equivalent of Cthulhu. But as you guys know, I link PPP all the time; I have no reason to think this poll is screwy, and in fact the sample of 40D/37R/23I seems well balanced. Make of it what you will:

More from PPP:

A year ago a plurality of Americans said they trusted Fox News. Now a plurality of them don’t. Conservatives haven’t moved all that much- 75% said they trusted it last year and 72% still do this time around. But moderates and liberals have both had a strong increase in their level of distrust for the network- a 12 point gain from 48% to 60% for moderates and a 16 point gain from 66% to 82% for liberals. Voters between left and center tend to be more trusting of the media across the board, which is why a fair number of them were still rating Fox favorably even a year ago at this time. But it looks like with a lot of those folks it has finally crossed the line to being too political to trust.

FNC is most trusted after PBS, both overall and among independents, but that downturn is intriguing. One of the theories being kicked around on Twitter after the poll was released was that the endless Media Matters/progressive campaigns against Fox had finally made inroads among rank-and-file liberals and moderates, but I find that hard to believe. The reach of those online campaigns is relatively small compared to the size of TV audiences; I’d expect a slight downturn over that, but not 16 points. Another possibility is that higher profile liberal outlets, like the White House and MSNBC, inveighing against Fox could be affecting wider opinion, but anti-Fox whining has been a staple of MSNBC since forever and most of the White House’s clashes with the network came in 2009 when Obama was searching for foils like Limbaugh and Beck, not last year. In fact, The One chose O’Reilly for his Super Bowl interview next month.

Any theories? My hunch is that the election drove this to some extent: A rightward tilt to news coverage when there’s so much on the line in November is bound to irritate liberals and moderates opposed to the GOP more than it would in an off-year. And some of the negative perceptions of Fox’s larger-than-life personalities, like Beck and Palin, logically might bleed over into perceptions of the network itself as they become more prominent. Beyond that, though, I’m not sure why there’d be a sharp spike downward in the course of a single year. Given the endless complaints about FNC, people who are inclined to distrust it should have reached the point of distrust long ago. That is to say, there really shouldn’t be much volatility in this market by now; the information about Fox, NBC, etc, is pretty well priced into their brands. What am I missing here?

Update: A commenter wonders how it could be that Fox’s trustworthiness is down when it continues to utterly crush the competition in the ratings. Good question, but the two aren’t mutually exclusive. It could be that Fox is gaining conservative viewers even as it loses liberal/moderate ones. Or it could be that liberals and moderates continue to watch even though their mistrust has grown. Grassroots conservatives should have no trouble relating to that, actually, given that many of us consume lots of news media while maintaining a robust skepticism for much of it. With good reason.