A new poll shows that stunning majorities of Americans oppose punishing criticism of President Donald Trump via the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) — including by a whopping three-to-one among Republicans and more than two-to-one with Trump voters.
September saw a raft of moves that observers on all sides saw as an assault on free speech. In the wake of the shocking killing of activist Charlie Kirk, Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi drew criticism for threatening to go after people over “hate speech” — including mockery or celebration of Kirk’s assassination.
Trump also blurted out an escalating series of rants essentially warning that criticizing him is now “illegal,” and floated pulling FCC licenses as a consequence.
Additionally, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was suspended under intimidation from Trump and FCC chief Brendan Carr, and Trump announced he was designating Antifa a “terrorist organization.”
Kimmel was reinstated after a wave of Disney+ cancellations, but major affiliate owners Sinclair Broadcasting and Nextstar said they would not air the show, citing comments by Carr. Within days, both relented.
In a new YouGov poll taken at the end of the month, it turns out that punishing Trump critics with license revocation is the least popular among a list of thirty Trump policy ideas.
Respondents to the poll were asked “Would you support or oppose the following? Threatening to remove broadcast licenses from TV networks critical of Donald Trump.”
A whopping 74 percent responded that they “Somewhat oppose” or “Stronyly oppose” the policy versus just 12 percent who support it. Even among Trump voters, 62 percent were opposed versus just 26 percent who supported the idea and 61% to 22% among Republicans.
The next-least-popular policy was “Canceling a plan to require airlines to compensate passengers for delays and cancellations,” which was opposed by 68 percent and supported by just 18 percent.
Only eight of the thirty policies listed received net support in the poll, while 22 of them faced net opposition.
The post Brutal Poll Shows Punishing Trump Critics With FCC Opposed By Whopping Majority — Even Of Trump Voters first appeared on Mediaite.
