A majority of Americans — 51 percent — now disapprove of the news media’s treatment of President Trump, a sentiment shared by 77 percent of Republicans and even 26 percent of Democrats. Another 53 percent don’t like the way Mr. Trump deals with the media as well; 23 percent of the GOPers and 79 percent of Democrats agree.
The findings are from a new Economist/YouGov poll, which also asked respondents if U.S. courts should fine or even shut down a news outlet which published or broadcast biased or inaccurate stories.
“A third of the public are willing to have courts fine the news media for biased or inaccurate reporting; somewhat fewer would let the courts shut down media outlets. Republicans are more likely than the public overall to favor such options. More than half of Republicans are in favor of fining news outlets for biased or wrong reporting, and 45 percent approve of allowing them to be shut down. But there is a general sense that doing either of these things — especially shutting down a news media outlet — would be a violation of the First Amendment,” noted analyst Kathy Francovic.
More numbers from the survey:
• 44 percent of Americans say the national press has been unfair to President Trump; 79 percent of Republicans, 45 percent of independents and 12 percent of Democrats agree.
• 34 percent overall would favor courts fining news outlets for biased or inaccurate stories; 55 percent of Republicans, 30 percent of independents and 23 percent of Democrats agree.
• 30 percent say the press has been fair to Mr. Trump; 8 percent of Republicans, 24 percent of independents and 58 percent of Democrats agree.
• 28 percent would favor courts shutting down news outlets for biased or inaccurate stories; 45 percent of Republicans, 25 percent of independents and 18 percent of Democrats agree.
• 26 percent overall say the press has given both fair and unfair treatment to Mr. Trump; 13 percent of Republicans, 31 percent of independents and 31 percent of Democrats agree.
The source is an Economist/YouGov poll of 1,500 U.S. adults conducted July 23-25.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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