A new poll from Emerson College shows more voters trust the Trump administration than they do the news media.
By Dave Workman
Senior Editor
A new Emerson College poll shows more U.S. voters believe in the truthfulness of the Trump administration than they believe the news media.
That comes as a possible embarrassment to the so-called “mainstream press,” which has been nearly relentless in its reporting on Trump administration problems since before President Donald Trump was even inaugurated.
“A key finding of the poll shows that voters find the Trump administration to be more truthful than the news media,” said a news release from Emerson.
The Emerson poll also shows the public is divided about President Trump’s performance so far. That assessment is supported by the daily presidential tracking poll from Rasmussen Reports. That poll was simultaneously reporting that 53 percent of likely voters approve of Trump’s performance while 47 percent disapprove.
According to Rasmussen, the latest survey results show 38 percent of voters “strongly approve” the way Trump is performing while 39 percent “strongly disapprove.”
However, the Emerson College poll said 48 percent of registered voters approve of Trump’s performance and 47 percent overall disapprove. Perhaps all this indicates is that polls differ slightly on Trump’s job performance.
Capitol Hill Democrats have been fighting Trump on virtually every front. They have made some cabinet nominations combative, and many are not too keen about his nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
Trump’s penchant for off-the-cuff reactions to criticism large and small may be creating some problems for the freshman president. In office less than a month, he has continued to use Twitter at times when some people wish he wouldn’t.
According to the Emerson poll, however, Trump’s team has garnered more trust from the public than the press. While Trump’s truthfulness gets the nod from 49 percent of the voters. At the same time, 53 percent of the voters think the news media is untruthful, while only 39 percent believe the press is truthful.
Along party lines, the results are predictable. Emerson said Republicans approve of Trump by 89 percent to 5 percent, while Democrats disapprove of Trump by a similar margin, 81 percent to 17 percent.
Trump has repeatedly accused the press of being dishonest, an allegation that appears to resonate with a lot of his supporters.
