A majority of Americans say they have a negative opinion of President Trump sharing AI-generated videos mocking protesters and Democratic leaders related to the government shutdown, according to a new poll.
A YouGov survey found 70 percent of American respondents said they strongly or somewhat disapprove of Trump’s artificially generated video where he’s in a fighter jet dropping brown sludge on demonstrators at last weekend’s “No Kings” protest in New York City.
Twenty percent of respondents said they strongly or somewhat approve of the Truth Social post while 10 percent said they were not sure how to feel about it.
A majority of survey participants said they were otherwise disheartened by the post, with 60 percent describing it as unpresidential, 52 percent saying it was disturbing and 51 percent saying they found it offensive.
Twenty-one percent of participants described the video as funny.
Those surveyed were also largely disapproving of two other AI videos Trump has shared: One depicting former President Obama being arrested in the Oval Office, and another depicting the Gaza Strip with a gold statue of Trump and a Trump Gaza hotel.
Trump is no stranger to using social media controversially and recently got attention for sharing an AI video depicting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) with a sombrero and mustache next to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on the White House grounds during the shutdown.
“Hours away from a shutdown, which we don’t want, the American people don’t want, the president is busy trolling away on the internet like 10-year-old,” Schumer fumed on the Senate floor in late September. “And that’s exactly why Americans are going to blame him if the government shuts down.”
However, the president’s fellow Republicans in Congress have said the posts were made in “jest” and referred to the online videos as “satire.”
Regarding the use of AI in general, 85 percent of Americans said they are at least somewhat worried about political propaganda being spread through AI, while 9 percent said they aren’t concerned and 6 percent were unsure.
Ninety percent of respondents said they are worried about AI being used to share misleading information or deepfakes, while 5 percent said they are not concerned and 4 percent were unsure.
YouGov surveyed 1,091 citizens from Oct. 20-22, with a margin of error of plus or minor 4.1 percentage points.
