Poll: Narrow majority of Americans side with Twitter fact-checking Trump tweet

A slight majority of Americans in a survey released Monday by the National Research Group (NRG) favors Twitter’s decision to append a fact check to a tweet by President Trump attacking mail-in ballots.

Fifty-four percent of respondents supported the addition of the label, the first time the social media platform has taken such a step for one of the president’s tweets, according to the survey. Twenty-six percent were opposed, while 20 percent neither supported nor opposed it.

Among self-described liberals surveyed, 76 percent supported the move, compared to 12 percent who opposed it and 12 percent who neither supported nor opposed it.

Thirty-five percent of self-described conservatives in the poll supported the move, while 44 percent opposed it and 21 percent neither supported nor opposed it.

Among respondents who described themselves as moderates, 58 percent supported Twitter’s action compared to 16 percent who opposed it and 26 percent who neither supported nor opposed it.

The NRG also polled respondents on Trump’s subsequent executive order targeting social media platforms, finding a plurality, 48 percent, opposed it, while 34 percent supported it and 18 percent neither supported nor opposed it.

Opinion on the order was similarly lopsided when broken down by political views, with 14 percent of liberals polled supporting it, 73 percent opposed and 12 percent neither supporting nor opposing it, while 62 percent of conservatives surveyed supported it, 23 percent were opposed, and 15 percent said neither. Fifty-six percent of moderates in the poll opposed the order compared to 18 percent supporting and 26 percent opted for neither.

Polled on what they viewed as the greater threat to society, 63 percent of respondents said “the ability for politicians to make potentially false statements through social media” while 37 percent said “the ability for social media companies to censor potentially false statements on social media.”

Researchers polled 1,006 American adults between May 29 and May 30. NRG reports that, “Since the survey is conducted online of a national representative sample there is no margin of error to be referenced.”