Ahead of last month’s “No Kings” protests, Republicans launched a remarkably aggressive effort to slander Donald Trump’s critics, repeatedly insisting that the activists participating in the events “hate America.”
The smear campaign apparently didn’t work. NBC News reported on the results of its latest national poll:
The high election interest and focus on Trump also come as millions of Americans have participated in ‘No Kings’ protests against the Trump administration. In this survey, 43% say they consider themselves supporters of the No Kings protest movement — with the group largely composed of Democrats but also including around 4 in 10 independents.
Right off the bat, it’s worth emphasizing that this level of national public support for a protest movement that didn’t exist as 2025 got underway is extraordinary.
What’s more, the survey data is a timely reminder of just how badly Republicans have failed to convince the American mainstream that No Kings participants are violent, pro-terrorist communists, hell-bent on destroying the United States.
Even after last month’s protests, some leading GOP voices continued to go after No Kings attendees. Trump, for example, called the events “ridiculous,” before insisting that the Americans who protested against him “are not representative of our country,” because “many of them are lowlifes.”
The same day, House Speaker Mike Johnson, who took the lead in helping label No Kings protest “Hate America Rallies,” claimed that communists were secretly behind the events.
If the goal was to persuade the public to reject No Kings, the NBC News poll suggests those efforts haven’t gone especially well.
Perhaps most important is the comparison between the size of the No Kings protest movement and the size of the president’s base. NBC News’ national poll also asked respondents whether they consider themselves to be “a supporter of the MAGA Movement.” Just 30% aligned themselves with MAGA, down from 36% from the same poll in March. In other words, after Trump’s election victory last year, the conventional wisdom suggested that the American right was ascendant and MAGA reigned supreme. But as the first year of the Republican president’s second term nears its end, the number of Americans who consider themselves MAGA supporters is down to just 30%, while supporters of the No Kings protest movement, inspired by Trump’s abuses and power grabs, enjoy 43% support. This isn’t what many political observers would’ve predicted a year ago at this time, but here we are.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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