This is a catastrophic failure for the media and left. After fifteen months of lies, race-baiting, manufacturing evidence, and shrill melodrama — a Rasmussen poll released Wednesday shows that only 34% of Americans disagree with the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of teenager Trayvon Martin. A large plurality of 48% agree with the verdict.
This poll might also explain why Barack Obama released a responsible and unifying statement after the reading of the verdict Saturday night. The always-polling and hyper-political White House probably knew that the public was in sharp disagreement with those demanding Zimmerman’s head.
The president’s post-verdict statement was out of character for a president who more than once has chosen to enflame tensions, rather than unify. After all, it was Obama who helped launch the Zimmerman trial into the racially-charged stratosphere with his divisive statement about Trayvon looking like his son.
But back to the media…
Another recent poll is also bad news for the media. Monday we learned that only 26% of the public showed any real interest in the Zimmerman trial.
The hysterical coverage of the trial has modestly boosted the media’s ratings, but at what price? As the post-verdict data comes in, it becomes more apparent that the media are way out of touch with two-thirds of the American people, both in the agenda behind their coverage (the Hispanic Zimmerman is a white racist who profiled, stalked, and killed a black teenager), and in the 24/7 obsession that is sure to continue through the weekend.
Moreover, you can bet that the media’s hyping of a racial narrative with absolutely no evidence, combined with the harping on an injustice that only 34% believe occurred, is only going to further damage the credibility of an institution already on the decline.
The collapse of the public’s trust and esteem for media has not and will not be something dramatic wherein the bottom all of a sudden drops out. Instead, it has been a drip-drip-drip devastation that has taken place over the years.
Another big “drip” in the media’s slow-motion fall will almost certainly be their objectively appalling and dishonest exploitation of the George Zimmerman story.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC.