“Donald Trump’s on the playground, the media’s on the playground, and they’re all fighting for that one little swing.”
Gary Abernathy, 61, the editor and publisher of The Times-Gazette in Hillsboro, Ohio, which endorsed Mr. Trump for president, said part of the problem with the mainstream media’s coverage of Mr. Trump was
that reporters at major newspapers ”don’t really get other parts of the country.”
“I do think it’s a failure to understand, and also a failure to respect the opinions of Trump voters,” he said.
“I think that was a bit much,” said Mark Huizingh, 67, a Trump supporter
and furniture store owner in Grand Rapids, Mich. “That was a little too strong.”
Mr. Trump’s presidency has exacerbated already deep ideological divisions in the country,
and Americans on one end of the political spectrum increasingly find themselves unable even to look their counterparts in the eye.
(Half of the respondents to the Quinnipiac poll said they disapproved of the media’s coverage of Mr.
“I think it’s right and wrong,” Ted Friedman, 59, a part-time furniture upholsterer in Grand Rapids, said about likening the media to the enemy.
“I think what we’re seeing in the mainstream — we’re talking CNN, Fox and so forth — I think we’re seeing the kids are on the playground,” he said.
The political divide, however, is stark: Among Democrats, 86 percent said they trusted the media
more to tell the truth, while 78 percent of Republicans said they trusted Mr. Trump more.
Fifty-two percent said they trusted the media more to tell the truth about important
issues, while 37 percent said they trusted Mr. Trump more to do so.
