"One in Four Americans Believe Trump Dinner Shooting Was Staged, Survey Finds"
by Park Eunseo
Published 13 May.2026 08:41(KST)
"Result of Growing Distrust in Government and Media"
A recent survey found that one in four Americans believes the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting targeting U.S. President Donald Trump was a "staged event." Although the suspect has been indicted on attempted assassination charges, conspiracy theories have spread online since immediately after the incident.
According to the Washington Post (WP) on May 11 (local time), a public opinion poll released by NewsGuard, an online news credibility assessment firm, showed that 24% of American adults believe the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting that took place at the Washington Hilton Hotel in April was "fake." In contrast, 45% said they believed it was a real incident, and 32% said they were unsure. This survey, conducted by YouGov, targeted 1,000 American adults from April 28 to May 4.
There were also differences according to political affiliation. About one in three Democratic supporters said they believed the incident was staged, compared to about one in eight Republican supporters giving the same response. Respondents aged 18 to 29 were also more likely than older age groups to suspect the incident was fabricated.
The results were released just after a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted shooting suspect Cole Thomas Allen. Allen is facing four felony charges, including the attempted assassination of President Trump. Immediately after the incident, claims spread online alleging that the Trump administration had orchestrated the event to generate support for the president and the Republican Party.
The WP reported that there is no evidence to support claims that shooting incidents at President Trump's public events were staged. The White House also strongly denied the allegations. Davis Ingle, a spokesperson for the White House, dismissed the conspiracy, saying, "Anyone who believes President Trump staged an assassination attempt on himself is a complete fool."
The conspiracy theories did not end with this incident. In the survey, 24% of respondents said they believed the attempted assassination at the 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was also staged. Sixteen percent said the attempted assassination at Trump International Golf Club in Florida was fabricated.
Sophia Rubinson, editor at NewsGuard, analyzed that these findings reflect widespread distrust of the government and media in American society. Jared Holt, senior research fellow at the online extremism tracking group Open Measures, also pointed out that "conspiratorial thinking has spread throughout American politics."