Less than half of Republicans think a free press is necessary for democracy

[DonViejo]

Source: International Business Times



03 MAR 2017 AT 08:39 ET

President Donald Trump has made a habit of criticizing the media, calling both stories and news outlets he doesn't like "fake news" and declaring the press the "enemy of the people." While some bristle at the idea of the president of the United States attacking the fourth estate, it would appear that Trump's base doesn't actually think a free press is all that necessary.

In a new poll, only 49 percent of Republicans and people who lean Republican said it was very important for American democracy that "news organizations are free to criticize political leaders." The poll, which was published Thursday by the Pew Research Center, found that 76 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning respondents said the free press was an important part of maintaining a strong democracy.

Link to tweet

Pollsters also asked people if the right of the people to nonviolently protest was important, and 68 percent of Republicans and Republican leaners said it was, compared to 88 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners. Pollsters also asked if it was important that "rights of people with unpopular views are protected." Eighty percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners agreed with that statement, while just 66 percent of Republicans and Republican leaners said unpopular views should be protected.

In two other questions about the components of a strong democracy, the partisan divide disappeared. Eighty-three percent of Republicans and 85 percent of Democrats said it was very important to have a "system of checks and balances dividing power between the president, Congress and the courts." Republicans valued "open and fair" national elections slightly more than Democrats, 92 to 90 percent, respectively.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/less-than-half-of-republicans-think-a-free-press-is-necessary-for-democracy/

[Skinner]

1. Frankly it's a disgrace that every single one of those doesn't say 100%

On the Democratic and Republican side. I thought these were all bedrock American values. WTF?

[DK504]

8. It was okay

when the media were trying to drudge up garbage on President Obama. Naturally the only thing they git was he occasionally smoked.

That was his big crisis. Even though Faux tried so hard to find dirt on him.

These idiots think the 2nd Amendment is the only Amendment.

[MountCleaners]

19. I'm sharing this....

...whenever they talk about their gun rights being taken away by libruls.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Stupidity. Ignorance is bliss. "Don't confuse me with the facts." RWAF all the way.

Textbook characteristic of RW Authoritarian Followers.

[elleng]

10. This is IT.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Any students saying "don't need a free press for democracy" should fail entire civics course. nt

[marybourg]

9. Unfortunately, one of the reasons they

are so ignorant in the first place is that publican-inspired tax-cutting and wars on public education and voting rights have decimated the offering of civics in schools.

[elleng]

11. Yes.

[Zambero]

4. On the contrary

A free press threatens the autocracy they seek.

[Marthe48]

5. Education

if we don't have it, fewer and fewer Americans will understand that we need that light shining on the government. Or we will lose all of our freedoms.

[modrepub]

6. Maybe There Are Wide Swaths of Republicans

who are convinced we are at war? Think of all the talk of "culture wars" and "war of civilizations" that the wing nuts cast around all of the time. No one can argue that a free press suffers when we are engaged in an active war. IMHO this is one of the consequences of "low burn" and "asymmetrical" conflicts we seem to be constantly engaged in; some of us seem to have lost the ability to comprehend what "war" actually means.

[PatSeg]

7. 76% of Democrats

and Democrat-leaning respondents think it is important? Who are the 24% who don't?

[sinkingfeeling]

12. Okay, we need a mandatory civics course for everybody in the US.

[marybourg]

13. Anyone who went to public school on the U.S

used to get one. Publicans nowadays would rather no one had one. An ignorant voter is more susceptible to publican lies.

[Grins]

15. Start here...

"Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed - and no republic can survive. ...And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment - the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution." - President John Kennedy, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City, April 27, 1961.

[lark]

14. Thereby proving that more than 51% of Repugs are fascists.

We knew it, now it's proven fact. This also proves why they are letting a known traitor be president without any pushback or oversight. They don't give a shit as long as they can suppress the working class, women and ethnic minorities in every way possible for the benefit of the donor class.

Edited to remove typo.

[yuiyoshida]

16. I wonder how any Republicans swoon over the idea of living under a Dictatorship....

and that Democracy should be tossed in the garbage bin??

[tclambert]

17. But they are really big fans of the Constitution. A lot of them carry a copy in their pockets.

Of course they don't really know anything about the Constitution. They know the Second Amendment says they can have guns. But they probably can't even quote all of the Second Amendment from memory. The First Amendment? Says something about it's OK to be a Christian. The other Amendments? Just stuff the ACLU whines about. (And the "C" in ACLU probably stands for Communist.)

[AgadorSparticus]

18. And this is why that party needs to be purged. They really need to disinfect it.

[MountCleaners]

20. This is necessary

It gives us a picture of what the stupidity level is in this country right now.

[Cosmocat]

21. YEP

Frankly, these numbers seem generous.

[mb9999]

22. The deplorables wouldn't mind a Dump dictatorship

Donald Dump wipes his ass with the constitution. They want a controlled press and a police state as long as Dump continues to advance the Stormfront agenda.

[Kennah]

23. Good little brownshirts (n/t)

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

24. They are numb nuts. n/t