Reuters
President Trump’s repeated cries of “fake news” and attacks on journalists as “enemies of the American people” have resonated with his base, with 43% of Republicans saying he “should have the authority to close news outlets engaged in bad behavior.”
The results — suggesting that a plurality of Republicans would have no problem trashing the First Amendment — came from a stunning new poll conducted by Ipsos and reported Tuesday by The Daily Beast.
The survey also showed that just 36% of GOP voters disagreed with that statement.
When asked if Trump should close down specific news organizations, such as CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times — all frequent Trump targets — 23% of GOP voters agreed while 49% did not.
Overall, Republicans were more likely to take a dim view of the media, the website reported.
Forty-eight percent said they believed “the news media is the enemy of the American people,” with only 28% disagreeing.
Nearly four out of five — 79% — said that they believed “the mainstream media treats President Trump unfairly.”
The commander-in-chief — who as recently as January called existing U.S. libel laws “a sham and a disgrace” — has routinely accused journalists of lying, making up sources and knowingly reporting false information to make him look bad.
“The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only because they know it’s TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!” he ranted Sunday in a typical media-bashing tweet.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders recently refused to respond when she was asked if she thought journalists were the enemies of the people — though first daughter Ivanka Trump said she disagreed with the characterization.
But it’s not only Republicans who think the president should have the power to muzzle the media, a common practice in dictatorships and authoritarian states like Russia, North Korea and China.
According to the survey, 12% of Democrats and 21% of Independents agreed that “the president should have the authority to close news outlets engaged in bad behavior.”
Conversely, 74% of Dems and 55% of Independents disagreed with the statement.
But 12% of Democrats and 26% of Independents agreed that “the news media is the enemy of the American people,” while 74% of Democrats and 50% of Independents disagreed.
But there were kernels of positive news for the press in the survey as well.
Overall, 57% of those surveyed said that they believed the news media and reporters were “necessary to keep the Trump administration honest” — including a 39% plurality of Republicans.
And a large majority — 85% — believed that “freedom of the press is essential for American democracy,” compared to 4% who opposed that statement.
The 43% figure roughly corresponds to the president’s loyal base.
Gallup’s most-recent weekly tracking poll showed that 41% of voters approved of the job Trump is doing while 54% disapproved.