Thread: Poll: Americans don't believe Trump has received the message from the midterms

Poll: Americans don't believe Trump has received the message from the midterms

Dec. 17, 2018 / 8:50 AM EST
By Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

WASHINGTON — The silver lining for President Trump’s standing in the new NBC/WSJ poll — 43 percent job approval among all adults, just 38 percent of voters who say they’d re-elect him — is that this isn’t far off from where Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were after their midterm drubbings in 1994 and 2010.

And both Clinton and Obama won re-election. Convincingly.

But there’s one difference between Obama and Trump in the poll: A sizable number of Americans thought the former got the message about the midterms and tried to make adjustments, while just one-in-10 feel the same way about Trump after the GOP’s losses last November.

According to our new poll, 10 percent of Americans say Trump has gotten the message that voters wanted a change in direction and that he’s making the necessary adjustments; 22 percent say he got the message but is not making those adjustments; 33 percent say he didn’t get the message; and 31 percent maintain the elections were NOT a message for a change in direction.

By comparison, on this same question in the December 2010 NBC/WSJ poll, 35 percent said Obama got the message that voters wanted a change in direction and that he was making the necessary adjustments; 29 percent said he got the message but wasn’t making those adjustments; 17 percent said he didn’t get the message; and 15 percent maintain the elections were NOT a message for a change in direction.

Trump “thus far has not acted like the GOP suffered a major defeat in November,” says Democratic pollster Fred Yang, who makes up the Dem half of the bipartisan-conducted NBC/WSJ poll. And what makes the 2018 repudiation of Trump so unique, Yang adds, is that it wasn’t based on policy or the state of the economy like the 1994 (health care) and 2010 (Obamacare/10 percent unemployment rate) midterm routs. Instead, it was based more on personality.

“What seems to be the most important change Donald Trump needs to make to win a second term is to fundamentally change who Donald Trump himself is,” Yang says. “The president’s behavior since November 6 suggests he simply can’t or he won’t. And because of that, unlike his predecessors, his difficult prospects for winning a second term become that much more difficult.”

Trump’s base is strong, but he’s playing only to 35 to 40 percent of the country

There’s a common theme to the main toplines from the new NBC/WSJ poll: The support for Trump – either on his job performance or on questions about the Russia probe – essentially remains stuck between 35 percent and 40 percent of the country.

Overall job approval for Trump: 43 percent
Those who don’t support Democrats providing more oversight of Trump: 43 percent
Those who would definitely or probably vote to re-elect him in 2020: 38 percent
Americans who agree he’s being honest about the Russia probe: 34 percent
Those who believe the Russia investigation should come to an end: 34 percent.

So this is Trump’s base — going from the diehard 34 percent who believe he’s being honest about the Russia investigation, to the 43 percent who approve of his job.

Indeed, look where Republicans are on these questions:

Overall job approval among Republicans: 85 percent
Republicans who don’t support Dems providing more oversight of Trump: 81 percent
Republicans who would definitely or probably vote to re-elect him in 2020: 85 percent
Republicans who agree he’s being honest about the Russia probe: 70 percent
Republicans who believe the Russia investigation should come to an end: 64 percent.

But compare those numbers with where independents are on these same questions:

Overall job approval among independents: 41 percent
Independents who don’t support Dems providing more oversight of Trump: 39 percent
Independents who would definitely or probably vote to re-elect him in 2020: 25 percent
Independents who agree he’s being honest about the Russia probe: 29 percent
Independents who believe the Russia investigation should come to an end: 31 percent.

Bottom line: Trump is playing to his base — and few outside of it.
Trump White House: “We’re going to do whatever is necessary to build the border wall”

Speaking of Trump playing to his base and not getting the message from the midterms, here was the Trump White House’s Stephen Miller on the possibility of a government shutdown on CBS yesterday:

STEPHEN MILLER: We're going to do whatever is necessary to build the border wall to stop this ongoing crisis of illegal immigration--

MARGARET BRENNAN: And that means a shutdown?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/mee...dterms-n948721

Well, isn't that interesting! DemoQuacks were sending Trump a message in the mid-terms and he isn't listening? But Clinton and Obama did? Now that's funny. Obama and Clinton are DemoQuacks, of course they listened. Trump is a Republican so of course he didn't and won't.

Trump isn't changing his Agenda.

Trump is going to grow the Republican Party and draw nice common sense hard-working Independents and Democrats who are sick and tired of DemoQuackery to the Republican Party. That's his plan, that's his goal, that's how he'll win again in 2020.

If Americans don't want good manufacturing jobs, higher wages, lower simpler taxes, trade balances instead of trade deficits, 3% to 4% GDP growth, more energy development, revitalized and expanded primary industries, peace in nuclear-free North Korea, nuclear-free Iran, new peace and prosperity agreement with Russia, fair trade with China, secure borders, less immigration, secure borders, civil rights, equal justice, lower-priced free market interstate health insurance plans, peace in Afghanistan, peace in Syria, revitalized inner cities, less unnecessary regulations, leaner government, more freedom and a happy, healthy prosperous country of citizens .... then they can vote for DemoQuacks in 2020 and go back to where they were before Trump.

If that's what Americans want, Trump will go back to New York, resume running his wonderful company, make lots of money, have a wonderful life again and enjoy the contentment and satisfaction that he fixed a lot of stuff really fast that no one else could fix. If he's re-elected, then he'll keep on fixing lots more stuff that no one else can or will ever fix.

It's America's Choice.

Hopefully, they'll choose correctly. I know I will.