Most GOP Voters Say Trump Will Never Make the Media Happy
As far as most Republicans and Trump supporters are concerned, their guy will never get a break from the news media.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 63% of Likely Republican Voters believe that it is not possible for President Trump to do anything that the media will approve of. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Among voters who Strongly Approve of the job Trump is doing, 84% feel that way.
Even voters not affiliated with either major political party by a 50% to 32% margin say it is not possible for the president to ever do anything the media will sign off on.
Given that most voters think Congress doesn’t listen to them and is more interested in making the media happy, it is perhaps not surprising that the president is running into resistance even from congressional members in his own party.
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on August 15-16, 2017 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.
Forty-four percent (44%) of voters believe most reporters are trying to block Trump from passing his agenda. By comparison, 48% said most reporters were trying to help President Obama pass his agenda in 2010.
Among all likely voters, 48% say it is not possible for Trump to do anything that the media will approve of; 33% say it is, but 19% are not sure.
A plurality (44%) of Democrats feel it is possible for the president to make the media happy; 33% do not, and 23% are undecided. Just 22% of Republicans and 11% of those who Strongly Approve of Trump’s job performance say it is possible for him to win the media over.
Those under 40 are more confident than their elders that Trump can do things the media will approve of.
Voters who consider the news they are getting to be reliable are far more likely than those who view it as unreliable to think Trump can satisfy the media.
As recently as June, 76% of Republicans – and 50% of all voters - said most reporters are biased against the president.
Just 29% of voters said in May that it is possible for Trump to improve his relationship with the media.
Fifty-five percent (55%) believe the president is his own worst political enemy. In distant second is the national media, cited as his worst enemy by 25%.
Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on August 15-16, 2017 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.
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