14 March 2016

“Team Trump” gets most blame for violence at his rallies

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Large crowds attended two Trump for President rallies in Ohio on Saturday. There was no indication that the violence that had led an event in Chicago on Friday night to be cancelled, had deterred an appreciable number from rallying to hear what the Republican frontrunner had to say. It is, of course, not necessary to attend a Trump event to know what is uppermost in the billionaire hotelier’s mind. Via Twitter Mr Trump claimed 20,000 people had attended his Dayton event and as many as 25,000 had turned up to hear him in Cleveland. He also informed his nearly seven million Twitter followers that supporters of Bernie Sanders were to blame for the disruption in Chicago. Trump added, somewhat menacingly: “Be careful Bernie, or my supporters will go to yours!”

We asked the YouGov First Verdict panel to say who they thought was most responsible for the violent incidents. 55% thought anti-Trump protesters were largely responsible (that’s the 34% who singled them out plus the 21% who also ticked “all of the above”). 62%, however, pointed the finger at Trump supporters and, particularly, Mr Trump himself. Please see the graph below.  qodimage.php 15.13.49
A finding from 9th March to finish off with. We’ve been asking the YouGov panelists if they think Mr Trump will ever be president. The percentage has risen from 13% at the beginning of February to 24% last week.

For more about Portrait of America and the methodology behind First Verdict, click here.

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Tim Montgomerie is Editor of Portrait of America