Less than 2 weeks into Donald Trump's tenure as President, 40% of voters already want to impeach him. That's up from 35% of voters who wanted to impeach him a week ago. Only 48% of voters say that they would be opposed to Trump's impeachment.
Beyond a significant percentage of voters already thinking that Trump should be removed from office, it hasn't taken long for voters to miss the good old days of Barack Obama…52% say they'd rather Obama was President, to only 43% who are glad Trump is.
Why so much unhappiness with Trump? Voters think basically everything he's doing is wrong:
-Overall voters are pretty evenly split on Trump's executive order on immigration from last week, with 47% supporting it to 49% who are opposed. But when you get beyond the overall package, the pieces of the executive order become more clearly unpopular. 52% of voters think that the order was intended to be a Muslim ban, to only 41% who don't think that was the intent. And the idea of a Muslim ban is extremely unpopular with the American people- only 26% are in favor of it, to 65% who are against it. When it comes to barring people from certain countries from entering the United States, even when those people have already secured a Visa, just 39% of voters are supportive to 53% who are against it. And just 43% of voters support the United States indefinitely suspending accepting Syrian refugees, with 48% opposed to that. Finally voters see a basic competence issue with Trump's handling of the executive order- only 39% of voters think it was well executed, to 55% who believe it was poorly executed.
The attitudes of Trump voters on the issue of the order being a Muslim ban are telling. 71% claim they don't think the intent of the executive order was to ban Muslims from entering the country, to 23% who say that was the intent. But then when you ask Trump voters what their feelings on banning Muslims from the country are, they support it. 48% of Trump voters support banning Muslims from entering the country, to 40% who are opposed. So they say it's not a Muslim ban, but they want a Muslim ban, and 94% of them support the order.
Trump voters also continue to refuse to believe in the sincerity of those protesting him. 48% think the folks who protested at airports across the country last weekend were paid to do so by George Soros, to only 31% who think the protesters weren't paid. Trump voters thought the women's marchers were all paid by Mr. Soros as well so clearly the Trump administration is going to be very expensive for him.
-It hasn't taken long for voters to develop a pretty dim view of Trump advisor Steve Bannon, and become wary of the extent to which he's being given power within the administration. Only 19% of voters see Bannon favorably, to 40% who have a negative opinion of him. Only 34% of voters approve of his being given a seat on the principals committee of the National Security Council, to 44% who are opposed to that. What's particularly telling is that only 19% of voters think Bannon belongs in that seat on the National Security Council more than the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence, to 59% who believe those folks are more deserving of that place at the table. Even Trump voters think he's gone too far on that front- by a 40/35 margin they think the more traditional members should have that position rather than Bannon.
-Very few voters go along with Trump when it comes to his voter fraud paranoia. Only 26% of voters think millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 Presidential election, to 55% who believe that's not a real thing. This is another issue where even a significant number of Trump voters become wary of his claim- 47% believe it but 27% don't and another 26% aren't sure. It's been unusual to find things where a majority of Trump's voters don't go along with him.
-Voters continue to be very skeptical of the funding plan for the wall with Mexico. Only 40% of voters are in support of building the wall if American taxpayers have to front the cost for it, to 54% who are opposed. And there's similar opposition when it comes to the 20% tax on items imported to the US from Mexico that the administration floated last week- only 37% of voters support that to 50% who are opposed to it.
-Obamacare continues to become more popular the more talk there is about repealing it. 46% of voters now say they support it to just 41% who are opposed. And only 33% of voters think the best course of action is for Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act and start over, to 62% who think it would be better to keep it and fix the parts that need fixing.
Another aspect of Trump's unpopularity is that he's losing all of his fights. In the last week he's gone on the attack on Twitter against John McCain, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and CNN and in each case we find voters siding with Trump's adversary:
-By a 51/37 spread voters say John McCain has more credibility than Trump.-By a 52/41 spread voters say the Washington Post has more credibility than Trump.
-By a 51/42 spread voters say the New York Times has more credibility than Trump.
-By a 50/42 spread voters say CNN has more credibility than Trump.
Overall 47% of voters approve of the job Trump's doing to 49% who disapprove. And 45% have a favorable opinion of him to 52% with a negative one. But when you dig down on the actual policies he's pursued and actions he's taken, the picture gets even worse for him.
A few other notes:
-68% of voters have a favorable opinion of the National Park Service, to only 9% with an unfavorable opinion of it. Only 30% of voters approve of censoring the Park Service's social media accounts, to 52% who disapprove of that. Trump voters do support censorship of Park service social media accounts, 59/12, though.
-Only 13% of voters approve of the job Congress is doing, to 68% who disapprove. Paul Ryan has a 35/43 approval rating, and Mitch McConnell's is 17/55. Democrats lead the generic Congressional ballot 45/42.
Full results here.
Nice people made the best Nazis. My mom grew up next to them. The got along, refused to make waves, looked the other way when things got ugly, and focused on happier things than politics. They were lovely people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away.