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Most Iowa Republicans like President Donald Trump’s policy decisions, but most also wish he would stop tweeting.

A new Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll finds that more than half of registered Republicans support Trump’s actions, from “imposing tariffs on imports from selected countries” to “firing Jeff Sessions as attorney general.”

But only 19 percent of Iowa's registered Republicans think that “posting potentially inflammatory messages on Twitter on a regular basis” is a good move. Seventy-two percent label his Twitter messages “a mistake.”

More: Iowa Poll: Trump has big fan base among Iowa Republicans, but they welcome challengers

The Iowa Poll, conducted by Selzer & Co. Dec. 10-13, surveyed 450 registered Republicans. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.

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Trump's Twitter posts have often caused controversy. He has used the 280-character social messaging service for everything from criticizing special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections to anti-immigration comments and condemning NFL players who kneeled during the national anthem.

In a "Good Morning America" interview, Trump's now-convicted former lawyer, Michael Cohen, said his best advice to his former boss would be to "lay off Twitter."

While Iowa Republicans take issue with the president’s use of social media, they still overwhelmingly support him. Eight-one percent of Iowa's registered Republicans approve of the job Trump is doing as president.

Poll respondent Hannah Brotherton, a registered Republican from Lake View, said she agrees with most of the things the president is doing, but says the way Trump presents his views online is not always appropriate for someone who holds the nation's highest office.

"He does not necessarily need to be politically correct all the time, but he has a very important job," Brotherton said. "You need to hold him to a higher standard when he speaks."

While she doesn't personally have a Twitter account, Brotherton sees Trump's posts on Facebook and elsewhere — and says the posts make it more difficult to have reasonable discussions on the topics about which he posts.

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"When you’re trying to have a political debate with someone and you have to address our president saying something that, well, gets away from the facts or he's more mouthy, it's much more difficult to have a productive discussion," she said.

Poll respondent Dan Willer, a farmer in Woodbury County, disagrees. He has a Twitter account and follows the president. Willer said that while he doesn't always agree with the president, Trump should be allowed to voice his opinion on social media however he wants.

"I definitely don’t want him or anybody else on Twitter or wherever trying to silence him," he said.

Willer said dictating what the president is or isn't allowed to say on Twitter is a slippery slope, which could lead to censorship on the platform.

"If you do that, where do you draw the line?" he said. "Do you start going into other media personalities and start silencing them? It’s a dangerous rabbit hole."

About the Poll

The Iowa Poll, conducted Dec. 10-13, 2018, for the Des Moines Register, CNN and Mediacom by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, is based on telephone interviews with 455 registered voters in Iowa who say they will definitely or probably participate in the 2020 Democratic caucuses and 450 registered Republicans.

Interviewers with Quantel Research contacted 1,838 randomly selected active voters from the Iowa secretary of state’s voter registration list by telephone. The sample was supplemented with additional phone number lookups. Interviews were administered in English. Responses for all contacts were adjusted by age and congressional district to reflect their proportions among active voters in the list. For the registered Republican sample, responses for the 503 registered Republican contacts were adjusted by age and congressional district to reflect their proportions among active registered Republicans in the voter registration list.

Questions based on the sample of 455 voters likely to attend the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses have a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points, as does the sample of 450 registered Republicans. This means that if this survey were repeated using the same questions and the same methodology, 19 times out of 20, the findings would not vary from the true population value by more than plus or minus 4.6 percentage points. Results based on smaller samples of respondents—such as by gender or age—have a larger margin of error.

Republishing the copyright Iowa Poll without credit to the Des Moines Register, CNN, and Mediacom is prohibited.