A new poll by Quinnipiac University shows that half of Republican voters believe the media are the "enemy of the people."
The poll released Thursday asked, "Which comes closer to your point of view: the news media is the enemy of the people, or the news media is an important part of democracy?”
Overall, 22 percent said media are the enemy of the people. Among Republicans, 51 percent said the media are the enemy, compared to just 3 percent of Democrats.
Thirty-seven percent of Republicans said media are an important part of the Democracy, compared to 91 percent of Democrats.
The poll also asked: “Who do you trust more to tell you the truth about important issues: President Trump or the news media?
Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they trust Trump, while 53 percent said the news media are more trustworthy. Eighty-one percent of Republicans said they trusted Trump, compared to 4 percent of Democrats.
Just 13 percent of Republicans said the media are more trustworthy, compared to 90 percent of Democrats.
An analysis by the Washington Post questioned whether President Donald Trump’s opinion of the mainstream media is influencing Republicans. Within a month after he took office, Trump tweeted: "The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!"
Last month, Quinnipiac University polled Americans to see if they believe media are the enemy of the people. The survey did not name any news outlets, but at the time, about 40 percent of those polled said yes. That included more than 80 percent of Republicans surveyed.
“Without identifying the outlets, partisans might simply focus on the outlets they don’t like,” the Post analysis said. “Republicans might think of CNN; Democrats of Fox News. Either might think of partisan online outlets. It’s hard to say.”
