Is America too politically correct? Most Americans say yes, but when that opinion comes from Donald Trump, people are less likely to believe PC in the U.S. has run amok.
The most recent national survey from Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind finds that 68 percent agree with the statement: “A big problem this country has is being politically correct.” However, when the same question is prefaced with “Donald Trump said recently,” the percent of those who agree drops by double digits to 53 percent.
“When Donald Trump told Megyn Kelly political correctness was a big problem in response to her question about his disparaging commentary toward women, the audience erupted in applause. And yet, it looks like Americans are slightly less willing to agree with him when a critique of PC-ness is linked to the leading Republican contender,” said Krista Jenkins, professor of political science and director of PublicMind.
Democrats are the most affected by the connection to the real estate mogul/reality star, with only 36 percent agreeing with the statement when attributed to Trump, compared to 62 percent who agree when asked with no reference to Trump.
Methodology – The Fairleigh Dickinson University poll was conducted by landline and cellular telephone October 1-5, 2015 among a random national sample of 1026 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of +/- 3.7 percentage points, including the design effect.
Methodology, questions, and tables on the web at publicmind.fdu.edu.