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Do You Still Trust Matt Lauer? 'Today' Anchor Rated Low In Reader's Digest Poll

This article is more than 10 years old.

Matt Lauer (Photo credit: Phil Guest)

After the year that Matt Lauer has had, you might call it a win that he managed to sneak into the list of the "100 Most Trusted People in America," as determined by Reader's Digest magazine with the help of the Wagner Group, a market research firm.

But look a little closer and it's obvious that the well-documented internecine struggles at the "Today" show have taken their toll on Lauer's nice-guy image. For one thing, only 41% of the more than 1,000 people surveyed said they trust Lauer. That's the lowest number for any of the network news hosts who made the list.

Scoring higher than Lauer in trust were Robin Roberts (56%) and George Stephanopoulos (47%) of "Good Morning America," nightly news anchors Diane Sawyer of ABC (51%), Brian Williams of NBC (50%) and Scott Pelley (46%), ABC's Barbara Walters (50%), CNN's Anderson Cooper (48%) and Lauer's former cohost, Katie Couric (49%).

Even Savannah Guthrie edged out Lauer, at 42%, despite also having shouldered a portion of the blame, fairly or not, for the unpleasant ouster of her predecessor, Ann Curry

And don't be unduly impressed that Lauer made the top 100 in the first place (at No. 87, just ahead of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.) Those surveyed were only asked for their views on a list of "more than 200 American opinion shapers, leaders and headline makers from 15 highly influential professions."

This is the first year Reader's Digest has published the "Most Trusted" list in the U.S., so a spokeswoman couldn't say how Lauer's rating might have changed over time. But his "Q Score," the favorability measure maintained by Marketing Evaluations Inc. and closely watched throughout the TV industry, fell by 25% after Curry was forced off "Today" amid reports that he was unwilling to work with her. It's probably a fair assumption that his trust rating was better a year ago, too.