Most voters seem to think The Donald is mostly a media creation and isn’t a serious contender for the presidency. They also increasingly don’t like him. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 15% of Likely U.S. Voters think Donald Trump is seriously running for president. Sixty-one percent (61%) say the business tycoon and reality TV star is just seeking publicity. Twenty-four percent (24%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Only 28% now have even a somewhat favorable opinion of Trump, down from 39% three weeks ago. Sixty-six percent (66%) view him unfavorably, compared to 53% in the previous survey. The new findings include six percent with a Very Favorable opinion versus 43% with a Very Unfavorable one.
So who does like Trump? The media apparently. Sixty-two percent (62%) of voters believe the media is paying too much attention to Trump’s interest in running for the presidency. Only six percent (6%) think he’s getting too little coverage. Twenty-four percent (24%) rate the media attention to Trump as about right.
A plurality (46%) of voters think Trump is unlikely to file the necessary papers and make the required financial disclosures to formally enter the presidential race, although only 13% say he’s Not At All Likely to do so. Forty percent (40%) say Trump is at least somewhat likely to formally enter the race, with 12% who think it’s Very Likely. Fourteen percent (14%) are not sure.
However, just 22% say Trump is even somewhat likely to win the Republican nomination for president in 2012, including six percent (6%) who say he’s Very Likely to win. Seventy-one percent (71%) see that outcome as unlikely, with 34% who say Trump is Not At All Likely to be the GOP nominee.
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters nationwide was conducted on May 3-4, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Likely Republican primary voters at this early stage of the game give Trump (19%) the edge over presumptive favorites Mitt Romney (17%) and Mike Huckabee (15%) in the race to be the 2012 presidential nominee. But more primary voters say they would definitely vote against Trump than for him.
Even 54% of GOP voters think the media is paying too much attention to Trump’s interest in the presidency. However, Republicans are more convinced than Democrats and voters not affiliated with either party that the wealthy developer actually will take the necessary steps to formally run.
Still, most Republicans (56%) think Trump is not a serious candidate and is just seeking publicity. That view is shared by 70% of Democrats and 56% of unaffiliateds.
Fifty-four percent (54%) of GOP voters share an unfavorable view of Trump, compared to 83% of Democrats and 61% of unaffiliated voters.
In a match-up with President Obama, Trump trails the incumbent by 15 points, 49% to 34%. Regardless of which Republican is matched against the president, Obama earns between 42% and 49% support. Trump doesn't run as well against the president as the top tier of GOP candidates.
Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters say the news coverage of the January shooting of Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the killing of six others focused too much on the political implications.
In a survey last June, 66% of voters described themselves as at least somewhat angry at the media, including 33% who were Very Angry. It’s important to note, however, that the question did not in any way define media or differentiate between media outlets such as CNN and Fox News.
But voters have consistently said in surveys that they believe the national media has a liberal bias and that most reporters try to help the candidates they want to win. Just before Election Day 2008, 51% said most reporters were trying to help Barack Obama win the presidency.
Fifty-five percent (55%) of voters have said media bias is a bigger problem in politics today than big campaign contributions.
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