Close to a third of Americans (30%) who responded to a new poll from NewsGuard/YouGov believe at least one of three assassination attempts against U.S. President Donald Trump were staged. Nearly a quarter (24%) believe that the most recent reported attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25 was staged.
Others either believed the incident was real or were unsure if it was real or staged, according to NewsGuard, a group that provides data about information reliability. When each category was accounted for separately, the 45% who believed the shooting incident at the Washington D.C. Hilton last month was real made up the majority of respondents, followed by 32% who were unsure and the 24% who believe it was fake.
This survey included responses from 1,000 Americans gathered from April 28 through May 4. Respondents were also asked about the July 2024 assassination attempt on Trump while he was on the campaign trail in Butler, Pa., and the incident at Trump’s West Palm Beach Golf Course in September of that year.
While around a quarter (24%) of respondents also said they believed the Butler, Pa., incident was staged, just 16% said they thought the West Palm Beach incident was staged. Most respondents believe the incidents were real, at over 40% for each individual reported assassination attempt. However, the results also found that only 38% of Americans believe that all three assassination attempts were authentic.
When it comes to actual evidence that any of the incidents were staged, there’s nothing, according to NewsGuard. It noted that authorities in each case have said the alleged perpetrators acted alone and had no ties to the Trump administration. These shooters have been identified as Thomas Crooks (Butler), Ryan Routh (West Palm Beach) and Cole Tomas Allen in Washington D.C.
“The contention that the three events may have been staged correlates strongly with party identification,” NewsGuard said. “Across all three events, Democrats were far more likely than Republicans to endorse the ‘staged’ framing,” and these conspiracy theories started soon after the Butler, Pa., assassination attempt.
Overall, 12% of Americans said they think all three attempts were staged. Of that group, 55% were Democrats, 38% were independents and 7% were Republicans. Just 21% of total Democrats think all three were staged, along with 11% of independents and 3% of Republicans.
Regarding the White House Correspondents’ Dinner incident specifically, 34% of Democrats said they think all three events were staged, compared to 13% of Republicans. Young people were also more skeptical about the incidents, with 32% of 18- to 29-year-old respondents who said they believed it was staged, compared to 15% of those age 65 and older and only 13% of people who believed all three incidents were legitimate were aged 18 to 29.
Within days of the latest assassination attempt, theories about it had become so popular online that Trump himself addressed them.
“I think they’re more sick than they are con people,” the president said of those spreading the theories. “But there’s a lot of con in there too.”
