New Poll: 43% of Republicans Want to Give Trump the Power to Shut Down Media

[demmiblue]

Source: The Daily Beast

Freedom of the press may be guaranteed in the Constitution. But a plurality of Republicans want to give President Trump the authority to close down certain news outlets, according to a new public opinion survey conducted Ipsos and provided exclusively to The Daily Beast.

The findings present a sobering picture for the fourth estate, with respondents showing diminished trust in the media and increased support for punitive measures against its members. They also illustrate the extent to which Trump’s anti-press drumbeat has shaped public opinion about the role the media plays in covering his administration.

All told, 43 percent of self-identified Republicans said that they believed “the president should have the authority to close news outlets engaged in bad behavior.” Only 36 percent disagreed with that statement. When asked if Trump should close down specific outlets, including CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, nearly a quarter of Republicans (23%) agreed and 49 percent disagreed.

Republicans were far more likely to take a negative view of the media. Forty-eight percent of them said they believed “the news media is the enemy of the American people” (just 28 percent disagreed) while nearly four out of every five (79 percent) said that they believed “the mainstream media treats President Trump unfairly.”

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-poll-43-of-republicans-want-to-give-trump-the-power-to-shut-down-media?via=twitter_page

[Glimmer of Hope]

1. Good grief.

[vercetti2021]

2. Good god

If they want to live in a place that does that. They can all fuck off to mother Russia

[Left-over]

62. I agree totally. There is no place in a democracy for this kind of behavior.

[AZ8theist]

74. The stupidity of Dotard Deplorables has to actually HURT, no?

[dhill926]

3. I'm amazed at how easily propaganda works...

these people just can't think for themselves....and now the entire country and world is paying the price. Idiots and assholes...rough combination...

[a kennedy]

4. This absolutely nuts......

[sandensea]

5. Spoken like the third world applause monkeys they are.

[SpankMe]

6. Republicans are the enemy. n/t

[dalton99a]

8. +1

[lancelyons]

7. Most people think this is just Trump

this is not just Trump.

This is a wide chunk of Trumps base who want to move in the direction of a White America. They are afraid of the demographic changes going on around them. These people would be most likely ok with some ethnic cleansing in USA.

People need to stop thinking that if we get rid of trump it fixes this problem. These people will still be in USA.

[StevieM]

10. Thank you!! That is what I was thinking. There is a big problem on the right

that goes well beyond Donald Trump.

[flibbitygiblets]

51. Exactly. Dump just saw all these losers and exploited them, which is his one "talent"

EDUCATION is the only thing that stops the stupidity these people suffer from. Once the D's are back in power, world-class education needs to be a top priority, or we're going to be fighting these drooling idiots forever.

[robbob]

60. Remember when tRump said

“I love the poorly educated!” Or some such thing.

[dameatball]

64. To a certain extent, education is indeed an issue. But there were a lot of educated college students

running around with torches in Charlottesville. It is a very broad problem. education, race, gender, peers, upbringing.....many facets to this terrible problem we are facing.

[CatMor]

9. How stupid can they possibly be ....

the media is what gave us trump. They catered to every word, rally, campaign rhetoric of the con man 24/7 leading up to the election. The only thing the media gave us of Hillary was EMAILS 24/7. He should be kissing the feet of the media. His fellow republicans collectively run on less than half a brain.

[keithbvadu2]

11. So that 43% would approve a democrat shutting down Fox news?

So that 43% would approve a democrat shutting down Fox news?

[SWBTATTReg]

24. Or the National Enquirer? nt

[Cosmocat]

41. Next time someone says "They are both same"

ask them to show the time nearly 50% of democrats supported BHO shutting down Faux ...

[robbob]

65. Hmm...pretty sure over 50% of the people here

support shutting down Faux news. Or at least getting them to stop lying. Which their right wing nut base would call censorship.

Bring back the fairness doctrine, I guess?

[PoliticAverse]

71. What percentage of Democrats do you think would approve of the government shutting down Fox? n/t

[mikeysnot]

12. Just remember

this is 18% of the voting public. In other words GOTV.

[Hortensis]

63. THIS! Also, registered Republicans are only 24-26% of

the electorate at last measures, as other conservatives leave the party, and it's not coincidence that is about the number believed to be Trump's remaining core support. Fwiw, the total for the right-leaning electorate, including independents, is estimated at about 37%.

Btw, anyone wanting to understand Trump's authoritarian base and Republican leaders should read John Dean on the subjects. (And, yes, in my words, the base, now almost totally authoritarian, would make loyal Nazis.)

Trump’s Base: Broadly Speaking, Who Are They?
https://verdict.justia.com/2018/02/16/trumps-base-broadly-speaking

POOR? BLUE COLLAR? FEAR IMMIGRANTS? THE TRUMP BASE ISN’T WHO YOU THINK IT IS
https://www.newsweek.com/poor-blue-collar-fear-immigrants-trump-base-isnt-who-you-think-it-810316

Trump’s Base: They Are Authoritarians
https://verdict.justia.com/2018/03/02/trumps-base-authoritarians

[ProudMNDemocrat]

13. The road to TYRANNY and ANARCHY begins with SHUTTING DOWN of the Press...

Just goes to show that Trump has much of his base brainwashed. They live in a bubble with blinders on. Seeing and hearing what they are being TOLD what to see and hear.

I shudder to think of Trump Police barging in on a News Studio like CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, or MSNBC and demanding shutting down because they are reporting and discussing the FACTS about what is happening in this country. Or newsrooms of the major Papers in this country.

[Renew Deal]

14. 43% of republicans don't believe in American values

[Snellius]

29. 43% of Republicans do not believe in gravity. To prove it they vote to jump off a cliff.

[heaven05]

15. They are a shrinking minority Party

so the numbers are not reflective of the truth of the matter. 43% of a shrinking minority does not mean we are in danger of seeing the media shut down. Another one of those scaremongering headlines designed to increase revenue and/or readership.

[AdamGG]

57. It's not just a clickbait headline

They won't have a majority of the population supporting shutting down media and the courts wouldn't allow it, but it's still significant that support for this idea is this high among Republican voters, when it was probably not on their radar a few years ago.

What's alarming is that Trump's ignorant propaganda has this much sway in the Republican base and that it will be very hard to get the Republican Senators that cater to their votes to vote for impeachment. It probably means that these people have been lost to reason for the foreseeable future. It would be nice if the Democrats win majorities in the midterms and are able to hold public hearings that incontrovertably show Trump's corruption, that his support might lessen. But, probably, these people would only hear distorted spin of the hearings and still wouldn't be moved.

[Gothmog]

16. Who is surprised by this?

Deplorables are idiots who do not believe in the First Amendment

[JustAnotherGen]

19. I'm not

Totally completely not.

Anyone who wants to throw temper tantrums if our Candidates are not perfect this November or in November 2020 can see their way out of America.

We have one choice - and it is to cast far more votes than these voters do.

I'm wondering if the 'both parties are the same' folks who sit out are finally starting to get it? Like - do they get . . .

They're next.

[JustAnotherGen]

17. Just remember

These people vote.

So the only way to combat them - is to OUT VOTE them.

[More_Cowbell]

18. Good thing that "self-reporting Republicans" is a rapidly declining group

For me, it can't decline rapidly enough.

[Fullduplexxx]

20. 43% of maybe 40% of the country

[SWBTATTReg]

25. I think it's less than 40%...quite a bit smaller I think...perhaps someone has the actual figures...

The party has been getting smaller and smaller for some time now...

[AdamGG]

58. Gallup has had Dump's approval over 40% for the last 5 months

The views on the press may be held by less than 43% of 40%, but it's probably not that much less.

[BumRushDaShow]

67. "Self-identified" Republicans aren't 40% of the population

The last Gallup polls had them down to ~26% (as of July 2018). So 43% of 26% (of voters).

Meaning if you have about 200,000,000 registered voters and 26% are registered/identified GOP, then that's 43% of ~52,000,000 or about 22,360,000 people out of 200,00,000 total registered. I.e., 11% of the potential voter population.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

21. It's not just Republicans

“Swaths of self-identified Democrats and Independents supported anti-press positions as well.”

But swaths of self-identified Democrats and Independents supported anti-press positions as well. According to the survey, 12 percent of Democrats and 21 percent of Independents agreed that “the president should have the authority to close news outlets engaged in bad behavior” (74 percent and 55 percent, respectively, disagreed). Additionally, 12 percent of Democrats and 26 percent of Independents agreed that “the news media is the enemy of the American people” (74 percent and 50 percent, respectively, disagreed)

Why, right here at our very own DU we can easily find people who want to shut down Fox News, to name just one example.

[Iggo]

22. HOW DARE YOU TRY TO TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON?!? MY TEAM IS WINNING!!!

[Bengus81]

23. So if the FIRST amendment goes away then so does the SECOND.

Tell those asshats to chew on that for awhile................

[FiveGoodMen]

26. EVERY person who says that is a full-blown Nazi and should be treated accordingly

[mwooldri]

27. I don't want to shut down any news organization.

I however expect that news organizations actually deliver news. If they don't deliver news, then they shouldn't call themselves a news organization. It's false advertising IMO.

[angrychair]

28. A suspect a slight amendment to their question:

When processed in the head of a Republican

“the president should have the authority to close news outlets engaged in bad behavior.”

Is actually read as:

“A Republican president should have the authority to close news outlets engaged in bad behavior”

Because there is no way in hell that ANY republican, much less a plurality, would have supported Obama if he tried to shut down Faux News when he was president.

[ScratchCat]

30. n/t

I'm sorry, I don't believe 43% of any group of people polled said that the President should be able to close down new organizations. Sorry, bogus poll, imo.

[Aristus]

31. These idiots are the rebuttals to their own arguments.

Most of the mass media apparatus is in private hands. Do right-wingers really want to shut down private corporations?

Hmm...

They're taking this affinity for old Soviet Russia way too seriously...

[Martin Eden]

32. Would they want a Democratic president to have that POWER?

Surely they're not hypocrites.

[C_U_L8R]

33. Well aren't they special

Of course, none of their 'beliefs' can be backed by a shred of evidence.
Otherwise Faux "News" would have been shuttered aeons ago.

What goobers.

[PSPS]

34. LOL. Leave it to the daily beast to come up with outrageous click bait

[PunkinPi]

50. It's based on an Ipsos study and survey which is linked in TDB article...

About the study...
https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/americans-views-media-2018-08-07

Americans' Views on the Media Ipsos Poll on Sentiment Towards American Media
Questions & Results here -> https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2018-08/media_trust_topline_080618.pdf

[Lonestarblue]

35. The result of decades of prooaganda.

The Rush Limbaugh radio show began in 1988, so he has had 30 years to indoctrinate a significant part of the populace with his anti-democratic, right-wing claims of liberal media bias and his outright lies in support of the Republican Party. Rush has had the opportunity to brainwash at least two generations of people who do not bother to exnd the energy to think for themselves.

[Nitram]

36. I find that statistic rather hard to believe.

[7962]

37. Read the actual report for a much better assessment of this survey.

Most of the questions are not as starkly answered.
“the president should have the authority to close news outlets engaged in bad behavior,” OK, who defines "bad behavior"? What defines a "news outlet"? InfoWars says THEY are a news source, but they're full of lies. YouTube and FB have blocked them (which they have the right to do as private companies). But should the govt be allowed to shut them down because they spread false info? At what point does it become illegal instigation & a crime? Theres a line somewhere, but I sure dont know where it is

[Achilleaze]

38. Wow, republicans are pissing all over truth, facts, and reality

and embracing the darkside of deliberate deceit. What sucky "values" they have.

[workinclasszero]

39. Republicans want a fascist theocratic dictatorship, obviously.

I don't know why this is even surprising anymore in the age of 'god emperor' Trump!

Hell they are more than willing to sell out America to the Russians as well to get their way.

Link to tweet

[Oneironaut]

40. Americans are complete freaking idiots.

I’m not claiming to be smart, but the bar isn’t very high, apparently. Even on its worst day, I wouldn’t call for Fox News being shut down. To want such a thing is insanity.

The sad thing is, these people aren’t even Fascists. They aren’t smart enough to be Fascists. They’re easily lead useful idiots ready to be cannon fodder for the next Fascist takeover.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

42. It's amazing how many people have no clue at all about what's actually in the Constitution.

Remember the Republican candidate for Senator a few years ago who was quite astonished to learn that the Constitution had a little thing about separation of Church and State?

Every so often someone will go out and ask people to sign statements which are taken from the Bill of Rights -- the first ten amendments -- and many of them will refuse, saying those things are wrong or illegal or some such. I first heard about this back in the '70s, so this ignorance has been going on for a very long time.

[C Moon]

43. If we ever make it through this mess, we'll certainly have a different view of the GOP.

They are NOT a party for the United States. They are a party for money and power.

[Javaman]

44. if we don't win back the house or the senate come november...

that might be a reality that may come to be.

[calimary]

45. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph...

[SCantiGOP]

46. Most important things to preserve democracy ?

I would put the right to have regular elections as the THIRD most important factor. You could suspend that for a time (for instance, following a catastrophic natural disaster or nuclear war with another country that would make a national election unfeasible), but democracy could not in my opinion survive without a strong and independent judiciary, and a strong and active free press.

The repubs in this poll are only looking at the short term picture since their favorite dictator is in charge. I would like to see how many would say that they would agree to the President shutting down media if Obama or Clinton were in charge.

[WiseElder]

47. They had to be stupid enough to vote for Trump

So why is anyone surprised?

[lambchopp59]

48. You will watch Fox... You will watch Fox... You will...

[Different Drummer]

66. +1. n/t

[TheRealNorth]

79. Media source seems to be the missing ingredient in the Authoritarianism of Trump supporters

Since the argument in the articles is that fear triggers the support for authoritarianism, one of the things that is missed is news source. One of the things that comes out of watching Fox "News" is what to be afraid of and who is to blame for your fears.

[Snellius]

49. "Dear Libtards who think Facebook is a privately owned business," says 1 of the 43%

Link to tweet

[BumRushDaShow]

68. ...

[Snellius]

70. This Reptard is actually a "journalist" who writes for InfoWars

Which she defends by saying "There's a thing called fact-checking."

[BumRushDaShow]

80. Fixed.

"There's a thing called alternative fact-checking."

[mikehiggins]

76. Private vs public vs government

Every so often something gets posted that is so stupid it even bothers me. This is one of those times.
I have no idea what this poster thinks, assuming that word applies, but a publicly traded company is owned by the public (i.e. shareholders) as opposed to the government. So, if Facebook shuts down Jones's access there is no "First Amendment" issue involved. The government is the only entity that can violate your "free speech" rights because that is the only authority referred to in/by the US Constitution. The only way you can have unconstitutional censorship is if it is done by governmental fiat.
Facebook, Twitter, etc., etc. are perfectly free to shut down a lying demagogue that claims children murdered in their school were part of some government plot, or the kids from Florida are paid crisis actors. As long as it isn't the government shutting down "the enemy of the people" anything goes.

[madaboutharry]

52. My mother told me of a news story

she saw years ago where a reporter was stopping people on the street and showing them a piece of paper with the Thirteen Amendments written down. Many of those stopped thought they were terrible ideas and that they were laws from The Soviet Union.

[riversedge]

53. Shame on these Republicans. Just plain Shame on them!

[stopbush]

54. Republicans are 25% of the population, so 43% of R equals around 10% of the population

One needs to be able to interpret any statistics about Rs that pop up in the media.

[old guy]

59. Yup.

[BumRushDaShow]

69. Yup. Posted that with links in #67

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142128590#post67

[Panich52]

55. And when Pence was a radio talk show host, he said

POTUS should be held to higher moral standard and immoral behavior should be reason for removal from office.

Hypocrisy is ingrained in Repub souls. The party members claim constitutional fealty yet are quick to abandon that document when it impedes their deranged ideas.

[Glamrock]

56. Okay.

And once this dick is gone, buhbye FOX!
Idiots.

[amb123]

61. How much news would a Republican choose

If a Republican could choose news?

[Hekate]

72. One cogent question: HOW MANY AMERICANS STILL ARE REPUBLICANS? Because we know it's not 50%

Since the Bush administration, I have really not trusted polls that don't include that information.

[BaronChocula]

73. So what?

43% of Republicans:
-Call the cops on law-abiding black people
-Think Obama was president during the 9-11 Attacks
-"Would rather be Russian than Democrat"
-Think Sandy Hook was a false Flag operation
-Believe Deep State is running the government
-Think George Washington was a Republican
-Would let Donald Trump shoot them on 5th Avenue

[TalenaGor]

75. well if they do that how will they know when hillary is finally locked up?

[Doodley]

77. 43% of Republicans are dumbasses.

[jcgoldie]

85. Pretty sure your estimate is low...

[Rebl2]

78. I would like

to say I’m shocked, but I’m not. Wish that 43% would move to Russia and see how they like that.

[mikeyboi217]

81. History Repeats

Found on the internet.

When you look back on the history of Germany or Italy or any country that descended into fascism, what do you actually think were the warning signs?

You can see the warning sign when a leader wants to close down a free press, and that’s already happened to a large extent in places like Turkey and Hungary. Opposition newspapers have been closed. The same thing happens in Putin’s Russia. And Mr. Trump has declared his hostility toward the press, but he doesn’t have the means to do it. He’s not able to close down the Washington Post or the New York Times as the Nazis closed down newspapers. You can see it in irresponsible and aggressive nationalist belligerence in foreign policy. Again, Hitler did not believe in international institutions. He got Germany out of the League of Nations. He regarded international treaties as pieces of paper that would be torn up when he wanted to. And again, you can see in Mr. Trump a certain amount of contempt for international institutions and the belief that America should leave them.And then finally, I think, contempt for the truth. Goebbels was completely cynical about the truth. He said, All we need to do is to say the things that suit us. We don’t have to bother about whether they’re true or not. And if you bang away hard enough in propaganda and you repeat a lie, then people will start believing it. I shudder to think what Dr. Goebbels would have done with the internet. And I think that’s one of the most dangerous things we’ve seen from Mr. Trump.

So what’s scary now is that even though Trump is not Hitler, or whoever else is not Hitler, we do have to reckon with the fact that our democracies are in trouble because these guys all have more legitimate popular support than someone like Hitler did?

One of the problems, perhaps the fundamental problem of democracy today, is that the mass of the electorate, millions of people in the electorate, are disillusioned. Hitler only ever achieved 37.4 percent of the vote in a free election, but Erdogan, Orbán, and the Polish government, for example, have been elected by majorities of the electorate who approve of their policies. I know Trump lost the popular vote, but he was elected when it was clear that he was no friend of democracy. So that’s the situation we have to deal with. And that is: In some ways, democracy is dying bit by bit.

[lunasun]

84. ++Welcome to DU Mikeyboi . Good first post

[gopiscrap]

86. welcome to du

[D_Master81]

82. I'm thinking 20-30% would be ok with

Trump assassinating political opponents.

[highplainsdem]

83. Tweets about this from Laurence Tribe, Rick Wilson, Preet Bharara:

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[FiveGoodMen]

87. They are the enemy

They may end up ruling us all if cooler heads continue to prevail.