Bakersfield, Calif., NBC affiliate KGET asked viewers what they thought about Donald Trump’s idea to ban all Muslims from visiting the U.S.
When the station posted the question on Twitter, it was met with a storm of negative responses. The station deleted the original Tweet that asked “Should Muslims be banned from entering the country? To vote, reply with: “Yes” or “No” and re-asked the question with the tweet below.
Donald Trump says all Muslims should be banned, at least temporarily, from entering the United States. Do you agree? Yes or no?
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— KGET News (@KGETnews) December 8, 2015
One Twitter user wrote, “Treating Trump’s fascism as if it were everyday political discourse is not objectivity. Stop trying to normalize hate speech.”
A quick check of TVeyes shows the station started asking for votes on-air at 5:23 p.m. PT. By 5:30, 500 viewers had voted. At the end of the 6 p.m. news, the station revealed the final numbers. Despite the negative social media reaction, of the nearly one thousand viewers that had voted, 84 percent agreed with Trump while 16 percent disagreed.
Here’s a look at the social media reaction:
@KGETnews Treating Trump’s fascism as if it were everyday political discourse is not objectivity. Stop trying to normalize hate speech.
— Principia (@Principia) December 8, 2015
@KGETnews This is a serious question? Smh.
— Ray Woodson (@RayWoodson680) December 8, 2015
@KGETnews You sure you’re not a parody news site? No that can’t be it. This isn’t even slightly funny. It’s horrible.
— Bah Humbug (@MeanestBossEver) December 8, 2015
We asked KGET for comment but have not heard back, we will update when we do.
[Gawker]