Majorities believe Trump’s attacks on media just venting but could incite violence

When the president labels certain media as “enemies of the people,” is he serious or is he simply blowing off steam?

Slightly more than half of the public believes he’s just venting, according to a new national USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll, but still a slim majority believe the comments could incite violence against the media.

The issue of the seriousness of his attacks on the media is one in which there is rare bipartisan alignment: 58 percent of those aligned with Democrats believe he’s venting, as do 52 percent of those aligned with Republicans.

The partisan divide is starker regarding whether his rhetoric could incite violence. More than 80 percent of those affiliated with Democrats consider his remarks dangerous while about 3/4 of Republican-affiliated voters consider them harmless.

Methodology

The poll surveyed residents about the media, Russian interference in the 2018 election, and the Mueller investigation. The survey, results and methodology are available here.

The USC Dornsife/L.A. Times poll of more than 5,000 adult residents of the United States included over 4,000 registered voters and more than 2,500 likely midterm voters. All are members of the Center for Economic and Social Research’s Understanding America Study, a probability-based internet panel. The overall margin of sampling error is +/- 2 percentage points for all respondents, for registered voters and for likely voters.

The USC Dornsife/L.A. Times poll is a partnership of the Los Angeles Times and two USC Dornsife institutions: the Center for the Political Future and the Center for Economic and Social Research.

To arrange an interview with experts about the poll, please contact Jim Key at (213) 821-2992 or jameskey@dornsife.usc.edu.