From Idaho Politics Weekly. No surprise for our little red state.
It may well be fair to say President Donald Trump has had the rockiest start to any presidency since Abraham Lincoln – who saw the nation fall into civil war at his election.
But has Trump been fairly treated by the national news media – a group he calls the enemy of the American people?
Idahoans don’t believe so.
In a new poll for Idaho Politics Weekly, Dan Jones & Associates finds that 60 percent of Idahoans say Trump has been treated unfairly by the national media.
Thirty percent say he has been treated fairly, and 7 percent don’t know.
The poll was completed before Trump tweeted out a week ago that former Democratic President Barack Obama wiretapped his phones in the Trump Tower during the election campaign – a charge Trump has not backed up with any facts and which Obama denies.
As you might expect with just about any issue with the new president, Idahoans are clearly split along partisan lines.
Some of the numbers:
- 85 percent of Republicans say Trump has been treated unfairly by the national media.
- Only 11 percent of Idaho Republicans say the president has been fairly treated.
- Democrats are just the opposite. They say Trump has been fairly treated, 78-15 percent.
- Political independents (those that don’t belong to any party); 51 percent say he has been treated unfairly, 43 percent say the national media has been fair to him.
- Those who told Jones they belong to other political parties – mostly rightwing groups in Idaho – believe Trump unfairly treated, 64-20 percent.
The further right, or left, one goes, the greater the discrepancies on this question:
- 93 percent of those who said they are “very conservative” say Trump has been unfairly treated, only 2 percent say the national media coverage has been fair.
- Among the “very liberal” Idahoans, 71 percent say the treatment has been fair, 19 percent unfair.
- And the “moderates” are split, with 47 percent saying the national media have been fair to Trump, 46 percent saying the news coverage has been unfair.
And has been the case throughout Jones’ polling on Trump in Idaho, women are harsher on Trump than are men:
- 65 percent of men say the national media has been unfair, but only 54 percent of women agree.
Jones polled 628 adults from Feb. 16-28. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.91 percent.