By Dave Workman
A new Rasmussen survey released Monday points the finger of blame at negative news coverage for the problem of political violence in the U.S., with 71 percent of respondents saying things are getting worse.
According to Rasmussen, 60 percent of voters “think it is likely that negative news media coverage of Trump inspired this assassination attempt, including 41% who say it’s Very Likely.”
A teacher from California is now charged with various crimes including the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, using a firearm in a crime and assault, and the charges may increase. The attack occurred April 25 in Washington, D.C., and incredibly, there have been some reports of people expressing regrets on social media that the attack wasn’t successful. Even late night host Jimmy Kimmel is under fire for remarks he made during a monologue a few nights before the shooting.
Rasmussen is reporting that only 8 percent of likely voters see the problem of political violence getting better, and 17 percent think it “staying about the same.”
The survey of 1,076 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on April 27-29 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
Rasmussen says 29 percent of survey respondents do not believe media coverage played a role in inspiring the suspect, including 13 percent who say it is not at all likely. Eleven percent are not sure.
Especially damning for the media, the survey shows “73% say the way most news media report about politics tends to make America more divided. Just 11% think news media reporting on politics makes the country more united, while 15% are not sure.
“Among those who believe the media are making America more divided,” Rasmussen reported, “77% consider it likely that negative news media coverage of Trump inspired last month’s assassination attempt.”
The president has been under constant attack from many in the media since he was re-elected in 2024. He was attending the annual White House Correspondents Association banquet for the first time when the shooting incident occurred outside of the banquet room. The accused gunman never got close to him.
But the media is taking a blistering from this survey.
According to Rasmussen, “Majorities of every political category – 71% of Democrats and 75% of both Republicans and voters not affiliated with either major party – believe the way most news media report about politics tends to make America more divided.
“Similarly,” the report continued, “78% of Democrats, 68% of Republicans and 67% of unaffiliated voters believe the problem of political violence in America is getting worse.
“A majority (58%) of Republicans say it’s Very Likely that negative news media coverage of Trump inspired the recent attempt to assassinate the president, an opinion shared by 28% of Democrats and 39% of unaffiliated voters,” Rasmussen said.
Workman is editor-in-chief at TheGunMag.com.
