Jeremy Paxman has said the media must stop “sneering” at Donald Trump’s presidency, suggesting the Republican had done “rather better than many people had expected” in his first months in office.

Speaking at the Hay literary festival in Wales on Saturday, the broadcaster said he would like to interview Trump and encouraged the media to respect his position in the White House.

“I don’t like these media class sneerings about Trump,” Paxman said. “I don’t share his politics on many things, but he was elected on that cockamamie system that they’ve got. He was elected president. And we should respect that.”

Responding to a question from the audience about whether his views on Trump had changed since presenting the Panorama special 100 Days of Trump, Paxman said: “In some respects, he has done rather better than many people had expected.” Paxman was on stage with the comedian Marcus Brigstocke, who laughed at that comment. Paxman retorted: “Well, it won’t satisfy you sneery media types.”

Paxman said he strongly believed people have to vote “to be able to express an opinion” about politics. “The extraordinary thing is the number of people who talk about this being an abomination who didn’t bother to vote,” he said, referring to Trump’s election in November. “Of course, Hilary Clinton was a terrible candidate, but the fact of not voting disqualifies you, or it seems to me ought to disenfranchise you from passing any comment at all.”

Paxman, who once upbraided Russell Brand for not voting because he “can’t be arsed”, said he would make sure to cast his ballot in the general election on 8 June – despite living “in an era of pretty stunted politicians”.

“There have been elections I haven’t voted in,” Paxman told the Hay audience. “The last time I didn’t vote, I was quite comfortable with my decision until about 7 ’o clock at night when I was at work and it was too late to do anything about it. And I felt more and more uncomfortable.

“We’re not given a great choice. But in the end, making decisions is very difficult. To be forced to make a decision every few years in order to put someone there who will make your decisions for you seems not to be a bad thing to do.”

Often referred to as a “rottweiler” for his combative interview technique and history of grilling public figures on television, Paxman’s abrasive character was on full display at Hay. He laid into journalists, whom he called “a ridiculous, vain-glorious bunch of clowns”, and said he “very much” dislikes the mannerisms of British politicians.

“I think there is a deformación profesional that affects a lot of them that makes it difficult for them to have an unencumbered relationship with the truth,” he said. “However, let’s face it, it is an important job.”

Paxman also told the audience that he would like to interview Pope Francis.

“The pope would be great,” he said. “I’d like to challenge him on the question of contraception, abortion. I’d like to talk about papal authority, population control, migration. I think that it would be fascinating. I think he’d be more interesting than most and I think you’d probably get pretty straight answers, as far as he saw them.”