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A new Gallup poll released Friday found that Americans are divided over the media’s coverage of the Trump administration — and most people are not on the side of president.

Phil McCausland

The disagreement was stark over how the media is handling President Donald Trump, with those who took part in the poll almost evenly divided in three ways: 36 percent thought the media was "too tough," 31 percent said coverage was "about right" and 28 percent complained that the reporting was "not tough enough."

Perhaps unsurprising, the poll finds that views on the media split down ideological lines. Nearly three quarters of Republicans believed the media has been “too tough,” while only 37 percent of independents and 9 percent of Democrats agreed.

President-elect Donald Trump talks with Vice-President-Elect Mike Pence during a press conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on Jan. 11. Justin Lane / EPA

On the opposite side of the ideological spectrum, only 6 percent of Republicans said the media had not been tough enough, as compared to 49 percent of Democrats.

This is a clear contrast to a poll Gallup conducted in January 2009 during Obama’s first days in office, which found that nearly half of Americans believed the media’s coverage of the Obama administration was “about right.”

How the press has covered Trump has become nearly as large a story as the administration's unorthodox way of handling issues itself. The president and one of his closest advisers have gone so far as to call the press “the opposition party” and the administration has been swift to criticize journalists and media organizations.

Where was all the outrage from Democrats and the opposition party (the media) when our jobs were fleeing our country? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2017

Gallup conducted the poll Jan. 30-31 and used a random sample of 1,018 adults. The margin of error is 4 percent.