If it's in the News, it's in our Polls. Public opinion polling since 2003.

POLITICS

Voters Say It’s Important for Clinton, Trump to Hold Press Conferences

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton hasn’t had a formal press conference since late last year, largely avoiding media questions for the entire primary season. Republican nominee Donald Trump’s routine press conferences often seem to do him more harm than good. Do voters want presidential candidates to meet the press? 

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 82% of Likely U.S. Voters think it is important for the major presidential candidates to hold regular press conferences to answer questions from reporters, with 48% who say it is Very Important. Just 17% view regular press conferences as unimportant, and that includes only three percent (3%) who feel they are Not At All Important. (To see survey question wording, click here.) 

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on August 15-16, 2016 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Want to read more?

Become a Rasmussen Reader to read the article

Have an account?

Log In

Become a Reader

Subscribe

Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.

We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.

Some information, including the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and commentaries are available for free to the general public. Subscriptions are available for $4.95 a month or 34.95 a year that provide subscribers with exclusive access to more than 20 stories per week on upcoming elections, consumer confidence, and issues that affect us all. For those who are really into the numbers, Platinum Members can review demographic crosstabs and a full history of our data.

To learn more about our methodology, click here.