--- title: Most Americans Believe Donald Trump Is Dividing Us: Poll description: Fifty-nine percent of voters believe Donald Trump is encouraging white supremacist groups, according to the Quinnipiac poll canonical: https://time.com/4912926/poll-most-americans-believe-donald-trump-is-dividing-the-country/ copyright: © 2026 TIME USA, LLC. All Rights Reserved. terms: https://legal.time.com/terms-of-service/ license_contact: syndication@time.com author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-23T19:20:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:30:48.410Z article:section: Politics og:title: Poll: Most Americans Believe Trump Is Dividing the Country og:description: 59% of voters believe Trump is encouraging white supremacist groups og:url: https://time.com/4912926/poll-most-americans-believe-donald-trump-is-dividing-the-country/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ccf75bbe8cdcf48/6988dadd096a94c2d569f441/trump1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4928 og:image:height: 2772 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-TRUMP-DEPARTS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Poll: Most Americans Believe Trump Is Dividing the Country twitter:description: 59% of voters believe Trump is encouraging white supremacist groups twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ccf75bbe8cdcf48/6988dadd096a94c2d569f441/trump1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Poll: Most Americans Believe Donald Trump Is Dividing the Country > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d6119532-588d-4399-bbd1-9b7c180c59c2&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Lashes Out at Media for Condemning His Comments on Virginia [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Lashes Out at Media for Condemning His Comments on Virginia](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PmWFQSwg.m3u8) (0:58)  _Published 2017-08-23. President Donald Trump is blaming the media for the widespread condemnation of his response to a Charlottesville, Virginia, protest organized by white supremacists that led to the killing of a counter-protester._ by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Aug 23, 2017 7:20 PM UTC President Donald Trump is blaming the media for the widespread condemnation of his response to a Charlottesville, Virginia, protest organized by white supremacists that led to the killing of a counter-protester. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Aug 23, 2017 7:20 PM UTC A new poll from [Quinnipiac University](https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2482) found that most Americans believe that [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4911850/donald-trump-maga-rally-phoenix/) is doing more to divide the country than to unite it. Fifty-nine percent of voters said they believe [Trump](http://time.com/4911855/justice-department-dreamhost-inauguration-protest/) is encouraging white supremacist groups, and 64% believe such groups pose a threat to the country, according to the poll. More than half of voters, 55%, said that there is too much prejudice in American society, while 40% said there is too much “political correctness.” Eighty-one percent responded that prejudice against minority groups is either “very serious” or “somewhat serious,” and 62% said the same of prejudice toward Jews. Half of voters oppose removing [Confederate statues](http://time.com/4903943/charlottesville-trump-confederate-statues-civil-war/) from public spaces, while 39% support it, Quinnipiac reports, with support much higher (67%) among black voters. In an open question, 64 voters said “strong” was the first word that came to them when they thought of Trump, while 59 voters said “idiot,” 58 answered “incompetent, 50 said “liar,” and another 49 voters responded “president.” The poll was conducted from Aug. 17 to 22 among 1,514 voters nationwide with a margin of error of +/- 3.1%. ## Transcript They don't want to report that I spoke out falsefully against hatred, bigger join violence and strongly condemned the Neo natures the white supremacist and the KK card. What happened in Charlossvelt strikes at the core of America. And tonight this entire arena stands united in forceful condemnation of the thugs who perpetrate hatred and violence. The only people giving a platform to these hate groups is the media itself in the fake news. [ APPLAUSE ] If you wanna discover the source of the division in our country, look no further than the fake news and the crooked media. [ APPLAUSE ] Which would rather get ratings and clicks than tell the truth. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4912926/poll-most-americans-believe-donald-trump-is-dividing-the-country/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4912926/poll-most-americans-believe-donald-trump-is-dividing-the-country/"},"headline":"Poll: Most Americans Believe Donald Trump Is Dividing the Country","datePublished":"2017-08-23T19:20:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:30:48.410Z","description":"Fifty-nine percent of voters believe Trump is encouraging white supremacist groups","url":"https://time.com/4912926/poll-most-americans-believe-donald-trump-is-dividing-the-country/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ccf75bbe8cdcf48/6988dadd096a94c2d569f441/trump1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ccf75bbe8cdcf48/6988dadd096a94c2d569f441/trump1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP-DEPARTS","caption":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP-DEPARTS","creditText":"NICHOLAS KAMM—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4912926/poll-most-americans-believe-donald-trump-is-dividing-the-country/","name":"Poll: Most Americans Believe Donald Trump Is Dividing the Country"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Lashes Out at Media for Condemning His Comments on Virginia","description":"President Donald Trump is blaming the media for the widespread condemnation of his response to a Charlottesville, Virginia, protest organized by white supremacists that led to the killing of a counter-protester.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PmWFQSwg/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-08-23T03:17:04.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PmWFQSwg.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4912926/poll-most-americans-believe-donald-trump-is-dividing-the-country/","duration":"PT58S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4912926/poll-most-americans-believe-donald-trump-is-dividing-the-country/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```