Latest Trump assassination attempt met with skepticism by majority in 'striking' new poll

A new poll reveals a striking erosion of public trust in the authenticity of alleged assassination attempts against Donald Trump, with nearly 55 percent of Americans expressing skepticism about whether the latest incident was on the up and up, revealing a crisis of credibility fueled by conspiracy theories, political polarization, and the president's reality-TV governance style.

According to a Washington Post report citing a NewsGuard survey, roughly one in three Democratic respondents said they believed the April incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner was staged, compared with about one in eight Republicans. Young adults aged 18-29 were also significantly more likely than older Americans to doubt the incident's authenticity.

The survey of 1,000 American adults found that 24 percent believe the Washington Hilton shooting was fabricated, 32 percent was unsure, with only 45 percent believing it was legitimate.

Conspiracy theories claiming the Trump administration staged the incident to manufacture political support began circulating online immediately after the shooter's arrest. Those narratives have taken root among significant portions of the electorate across the political spectrum.

"It's very striking," Sofia Rubinson, an editor at NewsGuard, told the Post. "The results underscore broader skepticism that Americans feel toward the government and the press. Increasingly, people on all sides of the political spectrum are distrustful of both this administration and also the media."

Joan Donovan, a Boston University professor who researches media manipulation, attributed the skepticism to Trump's theatrical approach to governance, telling the Post, "It just seems incredibly Hollywood to imagine that this is staged. The entire apparatus of the government has been turned into a reality TV show."

The April incident was the third alleged assassination attempt on Trump. In 2024, two attempts occurred: one at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and another at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Skepticism about staged assassination attempts extends to the earlier incidents, the Post's Liam Scott is reporting. Regarding the Butler rally shooting, 24 percent of respondents said they believed it was staged — with a stark partisan divide: 42 percent of Democrats believed it was staged compared with 7 percent of Republicans.

For the golf club incident, 16 percent of respondents overall believed it was staged, with 26 percent of Democrats and 7 percent of Republicans expressing skepticism.