Trump is More in Touch Than You Think

Results of the new NPR/PBS Marist poll are pretty surprising for we who have relied on the media to accurately report on the mindset of the country. It’s not that the numbers are good for Trump; they’re not. It’s that it hasn’t been nearly the disaster you would have expected. Here are the complete results. Highlights:

• Trump’s overall disapproval rate is 51 percent, but he’s still holding strong among Republicans. His disapproval rate has not substantially changed all year. Charlottesville didn’t affect it
• His white Evangelical support remains strong (58 percent approval), but much less than the 80 percent who voted for him
• A strong majority (62 percent) of Americans favor leaving the Confederate statues standing as historical markers
• Overwhelming numbers of Republicans (86 percent) favor this, as do 61 percent of Independents
• The only group with a majority favoring removal (57 percent) are “Strong Democrats” — as opposed to “Soft Democrats,” who slightly favor keeping them (52 percent)
• When defined by political ideology, only Liberal/Very Liberal people muster a majority for taking statues down (57 percent). Among self-described Moderates, 67 percent favor leaving the statues standing. A whopping 81 percent of Conservative/Very Conservative people favor the statues staying in place
• Unsurprisingly, the Northeast is the region of the country most in favor of removing the statues — but even there, a majority (53 percent) backs leaving the statues standing
• Here’s a stunner: 44 percent of African-Americans polled believe in keeping the statues standing. Of Latinos, 65 percent believe the statues should remain
• Comfortable majorities — no less than 60 percent — in each age cohort support the statues
• This is barely an issue with white Evangelicals, 85 percent of whom back the statues. Only nine percent favor removal, with the rest unsure
• On Trump’s response to Charlottesville, 52 percent believe it hasn’t been strong enough
• Of that number, 52 percent of Independents believe Trump has fallen short; only 30 percent are satisfied
• A comfortable majority (59 percent) of Republicans are satisfied with Trump’s handling of the issue
• Most Trump supporters (62 percent) think he’s done a good job with Charlottesville. Only 15 percent think he should have done more. The rest are unsure
• The younger you are, the more likely you are to disapprove of Trump’s handling of Charlottesville. Twice as many 60-or-olders (37 percent) approve of Trump’s actions, versus 18 percent of 18-to-29ers
• Americans overwhelmingly disapprove (over 90 percent across the board) of white supremacists, white nationalists, the KKK, and the alt-right
• Though eight times as many disapprove of the alt-right (48 percent) as approve of it (six percent), about half of Americans (46 percent) don’t have an opinion or are unsure
• The only categories who approve of the alt-right in double digits are Latinos (13 percent) and 18-to-29 year olds (10 percent). Six percent of Latinos approve of the KKK
• Black Lives Matter has a 50 percent overall approval rating, and a 33 percent disapproval rating, with the rest either unsure or having no opinion.
• Of Liberals, 83 percent back Black Lives Matter; 51 percent of Moderates do; but only 26 percent of Conservatives do
• On Antifa, five times as many people oppose it (24 percent) as back it (five percent), but the overwhelming majority of Americans (71 percent) are either unsure or have no opinion
• An unsettling 61 percent have little or no confidence in Donald Trump’s leadership of the nation in an international crisis
• Conservatives and Republicans are the only ones with a majority who trust Trump’s leadership in an international crisis. A very strong majority of Moderates and Independents do not trust Trump, nor do overwhelming majorities of Liberals and Democrats
• A massive majority (73 percent) of Americans favor a non-military means of dealing with the North Korea nuclear standoff
• Less than 10 percent favor a nuclear first strike. The demographic group most in favor of starting a nuclear war with North Korea? White Evangelicals, at seven percent

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