Trump's backstop against the classified information story: His base doesn't trust the media
By Philip Bump May 16 at 7:45 AM
The Washington Posts report that President Trump had revealed classified information to Russias foreign minister and ambassador was quickly matched by reporting from other news outlets. By 6:40 p.m., the New York Times, Reuters and others had talked to their sources and confirmed The Posts story. But at 6:45 p.m., there was no mention of the report on Fox News website.
As we noted last week, thats significant in part because Fox News has consistently been the
most-watched news channel in America. But its also significant because Republican voters Trumps base is more likely to trust Fox News than any other news source. By far.
Which presents a challenge: If Fox News doesnt report it, do Trump supporters know it exists?
Even trickier is that Republicans and Trump supporters consistently tell pollsters that they trust Trump more than they trust the media. That question was asked by
Quinnipiac University in February and
McClatchy-Marist in March. While 52 percent of those in Quinnipiacs poll and 70 percent of those in Marists said they trusted the media more, 78 percent of Republicans and 55 percent of Trump supporters said they trusted Trump more in those two polls respectively.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/05/15/trumps-failsafe-against-the-classified-information-story-his-base-doesnt-trust-the-media/?utm_term=.1c5fa0bd4c76&wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1