A majority of Americans say President Trump’s tweets should not be viewed as official administration statements, according to a new American Barometer survey conducted by Hill.TV and HarrisX.
Seventy-three percent of voters polled said that Trump’s tweets should be regarded as expressions of his personal views, while only 27 percent said they should be considered official positions.
Eighty-four percent of Republicans polled said that Trump’s tweets should be considered to be his personal views, and the remaining 16 percent said they should be regarded as an official statement.
A majority of Democrats appeared to agree, with 60 percent saying Trump’s tweets should be viewed as his personal opinions.
The president has access to two Twitter handles, his personal @realdonaldtrump account, from which he tweets regularly, and the official @POTUS account.
Attorneys for the federal government wrote in a federal court filing last year that the Justice Department would treat Trump’s tweets as official statements.
Trump frequently uses his personal account to slam his opponents and critics, but has also used it announce major policy decisions.
“I think this is a question between the tactic and the message,” Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, told Hill.TV’s Joe Concha on “What America’s Thinking.”
“Getting around an extremely hostile media is the right tactic, but the message that he does reinforces only [the] message and attitude that his base [has],” he said. “
Trump made waves last week when he said on Twitter that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should end the federal probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
“This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!” Trump tweeted.
The president’s critics said the tweet could constitute obstruction of justice if Trump officially sought to halt a criminal investigation, but the White House downplayed the tweet, saying it was Trump’s personal opinion that the investigation should be shut down.
Special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly reviewing Trump’s tweets as apart of a probe into whether he obstructed justice.
The American Barometer poll, a joint project by Hill.TV and HarrisX, was conducted Aug. 3–4 among 1,021 registered voters. The survey has a margin of error of 3.07 percentage points.
— Julia Manchester
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