On Sunday, filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were found stabbed to death in their house. As Americans processed the news, there was widespread praise for the man who directed acclaimed films like The Princess Bride and A Few Good Men.
Widespread, that is, except for President Donald Trump.
Trump's post on Truth Social about Reiner's death, in which he called Reiner "struggling" and "once very talented" and said he had a "massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME," drew a chorus of criticism from public figures.
YouGov showed Americans Trump's post — as well as social media posts about Reiner by several other politicians from both parties — and asked what they thought about it.
Americans weren't fans. When shown a screenshot of it, 72% of Americans say Trump's post is inappropriate, and just 17% say it is appropriate.
That's a stark contrast with the responses to three other posts that praised Reiner: from Republican Ted Cruz and Democrats Barack Obama and Gavin Newsom. 5% or fewer say each of those posts are inappropriate, and more than 80% of Americans call each one appropriate.
Republicans are less likely than Democrats and Independents to say Trump's post is inappropriate, but a majority of Republicans (55%) still call it inappropriate, as do almost all Democrats (90%).
None of the other three posts had significant partisan divides in whether Americans called them inappropriate.
Republicans who identify as MAGA Republicans are more likely than non-MAGA Republicans to say Trump's post is appropriate, but even among MAGA Republicans, about equal shares shares say it was appropriate as inappropriate.
YouGov also asked Americans a general question about whether it's acceptable or unacceptable to criticize a public figure who was just killed. 18% say this is acceptable, while 60% say it's unacceptable. Those who say criticizing killed public figures is acceptable are more likely to call Trump's post appropriate than are the those who say it's unacceptable. But even among those Americans who defend speaking ill of the dead, a majority (55%) call Trump's post unacceptable.
Most Americans say it's unacceptable to criticize a public figure who was just killed, including majorities of Democrats and Republicans (64% each), as well as MAGA and non-MAGA Republicans (60% vs. 64%).
Younger Americans are much less likely than older Americans to say criticizing recently killed public figures is unacceptable. 44% of adults under 30 call this unacceptable, compared to 58% of 30- to 44-year-olds, 62% of 45- to 64-year-olds, and 73% of those 65 and older.
But this week isn't the first time we've asked Americans about the acceptability of speaking ill of the dead. We also asked this question in September, soon after the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. And Americans' views on the topic have changed a lot!
Overall, 36% of U.S. adult citizens in September said it was acceptable to criticize a public figure who was just killed, compared to 18% who say so today. The change is driven by Democrats, 53% of whom defended speaking ill of the dead after Kirk's death, but only 18% of whom do so now. The share viewing it as acceptable has fallen from 77% to 34% among very liberal Americans, from 59% to 18% among those who are liberal but not very liberal, and from 34% to 13% among moderates.
(The September poll was of all U.S. adults, but this article looks only at responses from U.S. citizens, to compare it with the December poll of U.S. adult citizens.)
Republicans, in contrast, are about equally likely now as then to say it's acceptable to criticize a public figure who was just killed (17% then vs. 19% now). Americans who are very conservative are slightly more likely to say it is acceptable now (19% to 27%), while an identical share of those who are conservative but not very conservative say it (15% to 15%).
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,107 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, U.S. region, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty
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