Almost half say Trump’s Twitter use hurts reelection campaign: poll

Nearly half of voters in a new poll said that President Trump’s use of Twitter hurts his reelection campaign.

Forty-six percent of respondents in the Politico/Morning Consult poll said his tweeting harms his chances of reelection in 2020, more than double the 22 percent who said his direct access to 59.9 million followers will help. Seventeen percent said Trump’s tweets won’t have much of an impact either way. 

Majorities of voters also said Trump’s use of Twitter hurts his presidency — 55 percent — and America’s standing in the world — 54 percent.{mosads}

Nearly half of respondents — 48 percent — said the president’s tweets hurt the country’s national security, while only 13 percent said it helps.

Seven in 10 said Trump uses Twitter too much, while 14 percent said he uses it the right amount. One percent said Trump doesn’t tweet enough, according to the poll.

“President Trump’s breakneck use of Twitter is increasingly viewed by his base in a favorable light despite the divisiveness of some of his tweets,” said Tyler Sinclair, Morning Consult’s vice president. “Fifty-one percent of Republican voters say President Trump uses Twitter too much, compared with 58 percent who said the same in May 2018. Among the same group, 38 percent say his use of the social network will help his reelection efforts, while only 25 percent say it will hurt those efforts.”

The poll comes after a particularly active week for the president online, during which he fired off tweets attacking former Vice President Joe Biden, who just launched his 2020 presidential campaign.

The Politico/Morning Consult poll was conducted April 28-29, surveying 1,995 registered voters. The margin of sampling error is 2 percentage points.