About half of Americans think Donald Trump went too far with his comments about Hillary Clinton and 'Second Amendment people'
Donald Trump courted controversy and outrage once again after he, potentially, called for violence against Hillary Clinton during a speech in North Carolina. His supporters have said that the comments should not be viewed as an oblique reference to political violence, but rather as a call for gun rights' supporters to turn out and vote for the Republican candidate. Nevertheless, the comments have been widely condemned, including by notable figures in the Republican Party.
Research from YouGov conducted in the wake of his statement shows that the anger is not shared by most Americans. Just under half (49%) of Americans say that his comments went too far, while 36% say that the comments did not go too far. While a large majority of Democrats (77% to 12%) say that they comments did go too far, two-thirds of Republicans (67%) do not think that his comments were beyond the pale.
Most Americans do not, however, believe his defenders that his comments were merely a call to vote. Americans are slightly more likely to think that he was suggesting violence, either seriously (30%) or just as a joke (14%), than they are to think that he was calling upon Second Amendment supporters to vote in November (40%). Most Democrats (53%) think that Trump was seriously suggesting violence, something only 8% of Republicans agree with.
The controversy over these comments is merely the latest faced by Donald Trump, whose off the cuff remarks, and the ensuing outrage, have dominated much of the 2016 presidential campaign news coverage so far. Overall, however, Americans tend to think that the media overreacts to Donald Trump. 48% of Americans believe that the media overreacts to what he says and does. Even 24% of Democrats think that the media overreacts, while 36% think that the media reacts appropriately.
Asked specifically about the media reaction to his 'Second Amendment people' remarks, 41% of the country thinks that the media overreacted. 27% say that the reaction was appropriate, while 15% think that the reaction was not strong enough.
