(The Hill) — Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe President Trump’s social media post and subsequent comments about the killing of actor-director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were “inappropriate,” according to a new YouGov poll released Friday.
“YouGov showed Americans Trump’s post — as well as social media posts about Reiner by several other politicians from both parties — and asked what they thought about it,” YouGov stated in a post online.
“Americans weren’t fans,” the post continued. “When shown a screenshot of it, 72% of Americans say Trump’s post is inappropriate, and just 17% say it is appropriate.”
YouGov found that 55 percent of Republicans called the post “inappropriate,” along with 90 percent of Democrats. The poll also broke down more “non-MAGA Republicans” found the president’s comments “inappropriate” at 66 percent compared to 19 percent who said the comments were “appropriate.”
It’s almost an even split between “MAGA Republicans” who said Trump’s remarks were “inappropriate,” at 45 percent, versus the 43 percent who said the comments were “appropriate.” Respondents also largely favored condolences from other past and current elected officials. Online comments made by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), former President Obama and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) were overwhelmingly seen as “appropriate” at 89 percent, 88 percent and 84 percent, respectively.
The Reiners were killed in an apparent stabbing at their home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday. Their son, Nick Reiner, was charged in connection with their deaths on two counts of murder.
On Monday, Trump posted on Truth Social that Rob Reiner, “a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS.”
Trump added that Rob Reiner “was known to have driven people crazy” with his obsession with the president” and that the director’s “paranoia” reached “new heights” as the administration “surpassed all goals and expectations.”
Rob Reiner was a vocal critical of Trump’s. In 2024, he told The Guardian “that Trump was a “criminal” who “basically lies every minute of his life.” The president doubled down on his post and told reporters later on Monday that Reiner “became a deranged person” who was “very bad for our country.”
Lawmakers slammed Trump’s comments. Some Trump critics and supporters compared his statements to remarks and mockery made online following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September.
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) accused Trump of “celebrating their death because of their political views — the exact same behavior that Republicans complained about after Charlie Kirk’s assassination.”
“All those people who lost their jobs for their disgusting tweets about Charlie Kirk’s assassination are staring at the President of the United States’s social media account in disbelief,” conservative commentator Erick Erickson wrote on the social platform X.
The YouGov survey was conducted Dec. 15-18 and included 1,107 respondents. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.