… Last week, faced with one natural disaster festering in Texas and another impending in Florida, Trump used a storm relief bill to save Congress from a fiscal disaster of its own making. Moreover, he did it by shunning his own party’s leaders in the House and Senate and cutting […] Read more »
Muted backlash to Trump’s bipartisanship signals warning for GOP
… The old rules of GOP politics held that any Republican who stepped out of line to seek compromise with Democrats risked immediate attack for ideological heresy, or worse, squishiness and weakness. But Trump’s call for a “much stronger coming together” with Democrats last week earned him little direct public […] Read more »
Trump’s Shrinking, Energized Base
Every shrewd politician keeps a watchful eye on his base, but the relationship between President Trump and his core supporters has become an object of near-fetishistic obsession. Even as his poll numbers continue to gradually settle toward the basement, Trump’s more outlandish actions are often interpreted as base maintenance, and […] Read more »
New Polling on Voters’ Priorities for Healthcare After the Failure of Repeal and Replace
Our recent national survey of 1,017 voters, conducted August 18 to 21, 2017, confirms that the efforts of President Trump and Republicans in Congress to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act already have put them very far at odds with the public and are a major political vulnerability for […] Read more »
Why Trump’s Immigration Gambit Will Likely Backfire
President Trump may have hoped to increase pressure on congressional Democrats to accept other hardline elements of his immigration agenda this week by rescinding the program that has protected from deportation about 800,000 “Dreamers,” young people brought to the country illegally by their parents. But it’s more likely Trump has […] Read more »
Trump will have a very hard time overcoming his approval ratings
Donald Trump’s weekly approval rating in Gallup polling last week sunk to his lowest average yet, with just 35% of adults giving him positive marks for his performance as President. He hasn’t averaged 40% approval over a full week in the Gallup daily surveys since May — and hasn’t even […] Read more »