US political split intensifies as Trump nears first 100 days, poll finds
WASHINGTON—Many Americans, mostly Democrats, do not agree with President Trump’s aggressive efforts to quickly enact his agenda, a new poll finds.
Forty-four percent of respondents to an Associated Press-NORC survey said Trump had been “mostly focused on the wrong priorities during his current nearly first 100 days in office.”
A total of 24 percent said he was focused on the right priorities with 21 percent saying his priorities were about an even mix of right and wrong.
The AP-NORC poll asked 1,260 respondents age 18 and older from April 17 to April 21. Margin of error is seen at plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
Trump has been focused on delivering his campaign promises of stopping illegal immigration, deporting illegal migrants, eliminating waste and abuse in government and slapping tariffs on imports to even trade with other nations.
Subsequently, most Americans (71 percent)—Republicans (81 percent), Democrats (71 percent) and independents (58 percent), alike—expressed no surprise at his policies.
Nevertheless, 39 percent of respondents said that Trump had been a “terrible” president, 13 percent said his performance was “poor,” 16 percent described it as “average” while 13 percent termed it as “good” and 18 percent hailed it as “great.”
Affiliation
Party affiliation weighed much on the responses as the vast majority of Democrats were not in favor of Trump while a majority of Republicans supported the president.
A total of 84 percent of Democrats either said Trump was a “terrible” or “poor” president while 68 percent of Republicans expressed favor for him.
A great to vast majority of Republicans approved of Trumps policies on the economy (72 percent), immigration (84), trade (68) and foreign policy (75) for an overall favorable opinion of 75 percent.
In contrast, Democrats gave him low marks on the economy (12 percent), immigration (16), trade (13),and foreign policy (12) for an overall unfavorable view of 12 percent.
The responses of Independents tracked the views of Democrats.
Democrats seem even unhappier with the reality of the second Trump term than before he was sworn in on Jan. 20.
‘Longest 100 days’
Rahsaan Henderson, a Democrat from California, said “it has been one of the longest 100 days I’ve ever had to sit through.”
“I think the next four years will be a test of seeing who can resist the most and continue defying whatever he’s trying to do, since he defies everything, including the Supreme Court,” said Henderson, 40.
Republicans are largely standing behind the president, but are ambivalent about what he has chosen to emphasize.
“He’s really doing the stuff that he said he was going to do,” said Tanner Bergstrom, 29, a Republican from Minnesota. He is “not making a bunch of promises and getting into office and nothing happens. … I really like that. Even if it’s some stuff I don’t agree with, it’s still doing what he said he was going to do.”
Those who were surprised by Trump’s first few months seem to have had a rude awakening.
The people who say Trump’s actions were not what they expected—who are mostly Democrats and independents—are more likely to say Trump has had mostly the wrong priorities and that he has been a poor or terrible president, compared with the people who mostly expected his actions.
