Plurality of voters feel wary of CEOs’ support for Trump, while a similar share say media is too critical
Last month’s national NBC News poll found a near-majority of voters see CEOs of large corporations as being too supportive of President Donald Trump, while about the same share of voters also said they think the news media is too critical of the president.
The poll, conducted March 7-11 (before the latest announcements and then partial pullback of global tariffs, which sparked alarm from business leaders) showed 49% of registered voters saying CEOs of large corporations are too supportive of Trump, with another 29% saying the executives are dealing with him “in the right way.” A plurality of voters (46%) also say they think the media is too critical of the president, while another 24% say the media is dealing with him in the right way and 25% say outlets are too supportive of him.
Trump has surrounded himself with billionaires and tech tycoons since the beginning of his second term, starting with lining the Capitol rotunda with some of the world’s wealthiest men during his inauguration ceremony. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos both got prominent seats at the event alongside Elon Musk, who Trump has described as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency.
Meanwhile, Trump’s team has ramped up its trademark anti-media rhetoric compared to his first term — banning the Associated Press from the White House and Air Force One for refusing to adopt the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, accusing outlets of corruption and rolling out a series of lawsuits against news organizations.
The NBC News poll found 49% of Republicans say CEOs are dealing with the president in the right way, while 14% of Trump’s party say CEOs are too supportive. On the question of the media’s handling of Trump, 84% of Republicans say news outlets are too critical of the president, and just 8% say the media is dealing with Trump in the right way.
The picture is reversed across the aisle, with 83% of Democrats saying they see CEOs as being too supportive of Trump and 66% of independents in agreement.
And a near-majority of Democrats (49%) say the news media is too supportive of Trump. Independents appeared split on the question, with 40% saying the media is dealing with Trump in the right way and another 35% of the group saying the media is too critical.
Voters appeared split across other demographics, like gender and race, often in ways that correlate with partisan leanings.
A majority of voters of color (60%) said they think CEOs are too supportive of Trump, but white voters are split on the question, with a plurality of 45% saying CEOs are too supportive and 32% saying CEOs are dealing with Trump in the right way.
A majority of white voters (52%) also said they think the media is too critical of Trump, with 23% saying they think the media is too supportive. But voters of color are split in three directions, with 31% saying the media is too critical, 32% saying the press is dealing with the president in the right way and another 32% saying the media is too supportive.
A majority of female voters (54%) said CEOs are too supportive of the president, and a plurality of male voters (43%) said the same. But another 34% of men said they think CEOs are dealing with Trump in the right way.
But voters appeared to be in agreement across differing levels of education. Among voters who didn’t attend college, a plurality (37%) said they think CEOs are too supportive of Trump, while a majority of college graduates (56%) indicated the same.
On the topic of the media, a majority of voters who didn’t attend college (53%) said the media is too critical of Trump, and a plurality of voters with a college education (41%) responded the same.
The NBC News poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters from March 7-11 via a mix of telephone interviews and an online survey sent via text message. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
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