Washington Post: Trump’s already largely won his war against the media
…a poll released on Thursday from Marist College. Poll respondents were asked whom they trusted more, their favorite news source or Trump. Most Americans said their favorite news source, including large majorities of independents and huge majorities of Democrats.
But most Republicans said they trust Trump more, including just shy of two-thirds of those who voted for Trump last year.
I’m surprised it’s not 100%. Surely “people who voted for Trump” and “people who trust the media” are disjoint sets? Oh, wait a minute: It didn’t ask them if they trusted the media absolutely, just who they trusted more. And whatever their opinions about the relative trustworthiness, many Americans now know that the situation is so desperate that even if you believed everything the media said about him, you still knew it was imperative that he be elected, and Clinton NOT be elected.
Still, how can anyone think the media is more trustworthy than Trump? WTF?
Well, it’s actually not quite that, either:
…Consider the language used in this question. Marist didn’t ask people whom they trusted more between the media at large and Trump; it was a choice between the media outlet you like the best and the president. Presumably, the media outlet you like the best is the one you consider most reliable and informative, but even pitting a Trump supporter’s top pick of all of the media outlets against the president, the president wins.
Additionally, the fact that they worded the question that way is a good example of one of the many ways they try to bias poll outcomes.
Another poll asked a different question about the media (I love this one):
…A Politico-Morning Consult survey conducted online found that nearly half of Americans, a plurality, thinks that the media makes up stories about the president out of whole cloth. (Specifically, the question asked: “Based on what you know, do you believe the nation’s major news organizations fabricate news stories about President Trump and his administration, or not?”) That number includes three-quarters of Republicans and even 20 percent of Democrats.
