About 1 in 4 Americans believe without evidence that the alleged attempt to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner last month was staged, reflecting a deep partisan divide in who believes what, a new poll shows.
A NewsGuard/YouGov poll released on May 11 found that 24% of adults believe the incident at DC's Washington Hilton was fake, compared with 45% who believe the attempt was legitimate. An additional 32% poll said they were unsure. Trump and several other top administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, were present at the dinner.
When broken down by politcal party, 1 in 3 Democratic respondents polled said they believe the April 25 gala was staged; whereas, about 1 in 8 Republicans polled said they think it was fake, according to the NewsGuard/YouGov poll. NewsGuard, a platform that rates the credibility of online information sources, and YouGov surveyed 1,000 American adults between April 28 and May 4.
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"I think the results are very striking," Sofia Rubinson, an editor at NewsGuard, told USA TODAY, noting a broader skepticism among Americans toward the government and the media. "I think it's very telling that people on either side of the political spectrum are distrustful of both this administration and the media."
In an emailed statement to USA TODAY on May 11, White House spokesman Davis Ingle said, "Anyone who thinks President Trump staged his own assassination attempts is a complete moron."
The poll comes on the day Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect accused in the correspondents’ dinner shooting, pleaded not guilty to multiple federal charges, including attempting to assassinate the president and assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon during his arraignment hearing in Washington on May 11. His lawyers plan to ask that two top Justice Department officials present at the dinner be disqualified from involvement in the prosecution since both were at the dinner and could have been targets.
The NewsGuard/YouGov poll differs from polls that focus mostly on the president's job approval ratings, which have been declining for more than a year and surveys that gauge reactions to his personal traits and views on the Iran war.
Poll shows some Americans also believe all 3 Trump assassination attempts were fake
The NewsGuard/YouGov poll also found that 1 in 3 Americans believes at least one of the three recent assassination attempts against Trump was staged.
The closest assassination attempt occurred during a presidential rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, when a gunman fired multiple shots toward the stage, grazing Trump’s right ear and killing one audience member.
The FBI identified the shooter as 20‑year‑old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot and killed by Secret Service agents. Federal authorities said the incident marked the gravest breach of presidential security involving Trump and prompted the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, and former President Joe Biden, to offer their support to Trump.
Asked about the Pennsylvania assassination attempt, 24% of respondents said they believed the shooting was staged, and overall, 42% of Democratic respondents polled said they thought the shooting was fake, compared to 7% of Republicans who didn't believe the shooting was real.
Federal investigators called the rally shooting an assassination attempt and later concluded the suspect had acted alone.
In its aftermath, lawmakers launched investigations into security failures, and several Secret Service agents faced disciplinary action.
In Sept. 2024, Secret Service agents disrupted what the FBI described as an apparent assassination attempt while then-candidate Trump was golfing at his club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Agents spotted a gunman concealed in nearby bushes and opened fire before he reached Trump. Trump was not injured, officials said. The rapid response underscored the Secret Service's heightened presence in the wake of the rally attempt on his life.
About 16% of those polled said they thought the assassination attempt at Trump’s golf club was staged. When broken down by political party, 26% of Democrats and 7% of Republicans said they believe it was faked.
Meanwhile, 18-and 29-year-olds polled were more likely than their older counterparts to say the incidents were staged. The largest gap was for the April 25 assassination attempt in Washington. The poll found that 32% of 18- to 29-year-olds said it was staged, compared with 15% of those aged 65 and up.
Of those who believed that all three assassination attempts against Trump were legitimate, only 13% were between the ages of 18 and 29.
Overall, by political party, around 21% of Democrats polled believe all three assassination attempts on Trump were staged, compared with 11% of independents. Only 3% of Republicans think all three were fake.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: One-third say at least one Trump assassination attempt was faked, poll says
