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POLITICS

Voters Are Madder at the Media Than at Trump or His Foes

Voters are mad at President Trump and his political opponents, but they’re angriest at the media these days.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey shows that 53% of Likely U.S. Voters are angry at the president, with 39% who are Very Angry. Forty-six percent (46%) are not angry at Trump, including 34% who are Not At All Angry. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Forty-nine percent (49%) are angry at Trump’s political opponents, including 32% who are Very Angry. Forty-six percent (46%) aren’t angry with the president’s foes, with 24% who are Not At All Angry.

These findings are little changed from July of last year. In June 2017, 48% were angry at Trump, 51% at his political opponents.

But 61% of voters are angry at the media; 38% are not. This includes 40% who are Very Angry and just 19% who are Not At All Angry. Fifty-three percent (53%) were angry at the media in June of last year, but a high of 66% felt that way in June 2010, early in Barack Obama’s presidency.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on September 29-30, 2019 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.

Voters are more likely to blame Trump for the country’s political division but don’t think electing Hillary Clinton instead would have changed much. They also don’t see the president’s defeat next year as a solution to what divides us.

Voters under 40 are more angry at Trump and less angry at his opponents than their elders are. But most voters of all ages are angry at the media.

Most Democrats are angry at Trump. Most Republicans are mad at the president’s political opponents. Voters not affiliated with either major party are more likely to be angry at both of them.

Yet while 83% of Republicans and 69% of unaffiliated voters are angry at the media, just 33% of Democrats agree.

Eighty-five percent (85%) of voters who Strongly Approve of the job Trump is doing are Very Angry at the media. Among voters who Strongly Disapprove of the president’s job performance, just six percent (6%) are Very Angry at the media; 36% are Not At All Angry.

Distrust of political news reporting remains at a record high, with just over half of voters now convinced that most in the media are out to get Trump. By contrast, 48% thought most reporters were trying to help Obama pass his agenda.

Most voters continue to believe the media is all about controversy and too quick to convict public figures.

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 September 29-30, 2019 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.

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

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