Poll: Trump voters sticking with him expect promises to be kept
President Trump’s voters are sticking with him — even if they are starting to think he’s not keeping some important promises.
That’s the takeaway from a new poll conducted for Priorities USA Action, a Democratic advocacy group tracking the attitudes of U.S. voters about his first 100 days in office. The analysis, provided to USA TODAY, offers some insights into why Democrats in Congress may see little political risk in continuing to oppose the president’s agenda.
While 67% of Trump voters say he’s met their hopes and expectations, for the first time, a plurality (43%) say there are some important promises not being kept. That’s a 10-point swing from just two weeks ago. Just over a third say he’s kept all of his important promises so far. It's a potential warning sign considering Trump's 41% overall approval rating — in line with other national surveys — is already historically low.
In a speech on the hallowed ground of Gettysburg, Pa., just 18 days before his surprise victory over Hillary Clinton, Trump gave one of the most important speeches of his campaign in outlining a list of 28 campaign promises. By big margins, Trump voters identified six key promises he made as part of a 100-day action plan that he has yet to deliver.
These include replacing Obamacare with a plan that covers everyone at a lower cost; a $1 trillion infrastructure plan to modernize America’s roads, bridges and airports; banning foreign lobbyists from raising money for U.S. elections; naming China a currency manipulator and introducing legislation to provide a new child care tax credit to help working parents.
Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide
The survey respondents also cited beginning the process of renegotiating or withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement. While Trump initially signaled he might begin the process of withdrawing from NAFTA this week, he quickly reassured Canada and Mexico that his intention is to strike a better deal. Sixty-two percent of his voters said it is important to them that Trump eventually keep all of these promises.
Other notable findings from the survey include the sizable number of voters — 70% — who say they are worried Trump will get the nation into a war. Of those, 35% say they worry a lot and 17% say they worry just a little.
Now that Trump is nearing his 100-day benchmark, he is calling it “a ridiculous standard” to measure a president’s accomplishments.
While Trump has achieved some of his goals by issuing executive orders, for instance on pruning federal regulations and a federal hiring freeze, when it comes to working with Congress, he's 0 for 10 on his promises to achieve his goals through legislation. Only one — a health insurance rewrite — has even been introduced, and that fell apart as Trump couldn't get the support of House conservatives.
The survey of 1,000 presidential voters was conducted from April 20-24 by the Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group.
Contributing: Gregory Korte
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