Trump and the media get almost equal blame for politically motivated violence: poll

Nearly half of registered voters say the media is encouraging politically motivated violence, while an almost-equal amount say President Trump is doing the same, according to a new poll.

Forty-seven percent of registered voters who responded in an ABC News/Washington Post survey said the media is encouraging violence in the way it reports the news, while 49 percent of registered voters said they felt the president was encouraging violence by the way he speaks.

The poll was conducted Oct. 29 through Nov. 1 among 1,041 registered voters and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

{mosads}The poll results come on the same day Trump told a reporter “you’re creating violence by your question,” when asked about the effect of his rhetoric.

“Half of Americans say you’re encouraging politically motivated violence with the way you speak,” ABC News reporter Karen Travers said to the president on Friday.

“No, no. You know what? You’re creating violence by your question,” Trump said while pointing at Travers.

“Me?” she asked.

“You are creating — you,” he said. “And also a lot of the reporters are creating violence by not writing the truth.”

The poll also shows just 19 percent of registered voters surveyed said they see the president discouraging violence, while 29 percent said Trump is neither encouraging nor discouraging violence.

Fifteen percent of registered voters polled said they felt the media was discouraging politically motivated violence, while 33 percent said it is neither encouraging nor discouraging violence.

Two events have dominated the news cycle in recent weeks that prompted the poll: the attempted mail bombings allegedly perpetrated by a Florida man who is a vocal supporter of the president, and a gunman who killed 11 people on Saturday at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

The president has condemned both acts.