After RNC Chair Reince Priebus decided to push the blame for the violence at Donald Trump’s rallies on the media, conservatives had to scramble to find something to back up his outrageous allegations.
YouGov conducted a web-based poll which some outlets claim shows the majority of Americans blame ‘mainstream media’ for the escalating violence. This might be true, if the poll didn’t have a paltry sample size of 1,000 adults with 3.8 percent margin of error.
The interview asked if respondents feel it is acceptable to protest candidates at their own rallies. 49 percent responded yes. Fortunately, only 17 percent of those interviewed feel that protesters deserved to get “roughed up.” It would be nice for that number to be zero, but then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Naturally, since Trump rallies are the only ones which seem to be suffering from the growing threat of violence, the poll begins to ask questions specifically relating to his events. This is where MRCTV gets a little overenthusiastic with their numbers, reporting;
“The poll also shows a majority of Americans specifically blame the violence at the Trump rallies on the ‘left-wing media.'”
Last I checked, 1,000 people hardly represent the “majority of Americans.” More impressive is their assertion, based exclusively on this one poll, that 68% of Americans blame “mainstream media” for the escalating violence. Technically, the breakdown shows that of those polled only 38 percent felt the mainstream media was “a lot” to blame, while 30 percent felt media was “a little” to blame.
Using this formula the same poll also shows that 64 percent blame Trump’s supporters, and 66 percent blame Trump himself for the increased violence. If you’ve correctly worked out that this demonstrates more than 100 percent of blame, well, you’re better off than most Trump supporters.
The poll also shows that 50 percent of respondents think Trump is encouraging the violence. But before you give them too much credit though, know that they also said Bernie Sanders was 35 percent responsible, somehow.
In the end, this poll just keeps pointing the finger at the likely suspects and hoping something sticks.
Let’s break down what we know for sure: Trump’s rallies are the only ones showing a trend of escalating violence. Trump frequently goads his supporters into attacking protesters during these rallies. The media reports what is happening to people at Trump’s rallies so these horrific acts are not just swept under the rug.
It’s not hard to see where the violence is really coming from, so let’s stop pretending people are stupid enough to think otherwise.
Featured image by Matt A.J. via Flickr, under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
