PPP's newest national poll finds a variety of bad news for Donald Trump in the wake of James Comey's testimony to Congress last week. 49% of voters say that they think Trump committed obstruction of justice, to just 41% who don't think he did. Only 37% of voters say they think Trump is honest, to 56% who say he's not. A majority of voters- 53%- come right out and say they consider Trump to be a liar to 41% who disagree with that characterization. And for the second month in a row we find plurality support for impeachment- 47% are in support of it to 43% who are opposed.
Voters say they trust James Comey more than Trump by double digits, 51/39. Comey's image has improved rapidly in the wake of his testimony. Last month he had a -16 net favorability rating at 24/40, but now he's on positive ground at 40/37. That improvement is a product of Clinton voters seeming to have largely forgiven Comey at this point- his favorability with them is 60/13, in contrast to an 18/67 standing with Trump voters. One thing we find little disagreement about is that only 13% of voters think it's the job of the FBI Director to do whatever Donald Trump tells them to do, compared to 77% who say they disagree with that notion. There also continues to be a clear consensus that the reason for Comey's firing was his investigation into Russian involvement in the election- 54% say that drove the firing to 35% who disagree.
We polled Americans on how they feel about a quartet of foreign leaders, and found that all of them have better net favorabilities in the country than its own President does:
|
Leader |
Favorability |
Net Favorability |
|
Angela Merkel |
+11 |
36/25 |
|
Justin Trudeau |
+11 |
31/20 |
|
Emmanuel Macron |
+7 |
25/18 |
|
Theresa May |
+4 |
27/23 |
|
Donald Trump |
-14 |
40/54 |
The favorability numbers for the foreign leaders are a little bit of a reality check on how closely Americans pay attention to foreign affairs though. Merkel has just 61% name recognition and it goes down from there to 51% for Trudeau, 50% for May, and 43% for Macron. Clinton voters have favorable opinions of all the foreign leaders with Merkel (57/10 favorability) and Trudeau (53/11) coming out particularly well. Trump voters see all of them with the exception of May in a negative light.
Health care continues to be a political disaster for Republicans. Only 24% of voters support the American Health Care Act to 55% who oppose it. It doesn't even have majority support among GOP voters- 42% support it to 29% who are opposed. Voters prefer the current Affordable Care Act to the alternative of the AHCA by a 51/34 spread, and only 35% of voters think the best path forward on health care is to repeal the ACA while 59% think it should be left in place with fixes made to it as necessary.
The health care bill could have major political implications in 2018. By a 24 point margin voters say they're less likely to vote for a member of Congress who supported the American Health Care Act- 48% say they're less likely to vote for someone who favored it, to only 24% who say they're more likely to support such a person.
The present political climate is also having the effect of firing up Democratic voters for 2018. Democrats lead the generic Congressional ballot overall, 50/40. But among voters who say they're 'very excited' about turning out next year, that lead increases to 18 points at 57/39. That's because 67% of Clinton voters say they're 'very excited' about next year's election, compared to only 57% of Trump voters. Republicans are only more competitive on the generic ballot overall thanks to a 52/32 advantage among those who say they aren't excited about voting next year.
Trump's approval rating comes in at 41/52 this month. While much of the recent focus has been on Russia and health care, there are other things he continues to be at odds with voters about as well:
-59% of voters still think he should release his tax returns, to only 34% who don't think he needs to.
-Only 34% of voters support the proposed wall with Mexico if Americans have to pay for it, to 57% opposed to the wall.
-Trump is losing all of his fights with the media. Voters say they trust ABC more than him 52/39, that they trust NBC more 52/41, that they trust CBS more 51/40, that they trust the New York Times and Washington Post more each 49/40, and that they trust CNN more 49/41.
When it comes down to it only 36% of voters think Trump has delivered on his promise to 'Make America Great Again,' to 56% who say he has not. And perhaps as a result he's trailing in early hypothetical match ups with a number of possible 2020 Democratic candidates we pitted him against- he trails Joe Biden 54/41 and Bernie Sanders 51/41 and is also at a narrow deficit against Elizabeth Warren (46/43), Cory Booker (43/41), and Kamala Harris (42/41). And by a 53/41 spread, voters wish Barack Obama was still President instead of Trump.
A few final notes from the poll:
-42% of Trump voters think it's appropriate for GOP politicians to body slam reporters, compared to 45% who think it's inappropriate. By contrast only 6% of Clinton voters think it's ok for them to body slam reporters, to 89% who think it's inappropriate. Overall 22% of voters think it's ok for GOP politicians to body slam reporters, to 69% who think it's not.
-There's also a divide between Trump and Clinton voters when it comes to public memorials to the Confederacy. Trump voters support them 70/15. By contrast only 46% of them support the American Health Care Act, and only 62% of them oppose the Affordable Care Act. So they are much more unified over Confederate memorials than they are about anything related to health care. Clinton voters oppose Confederate memorials, 20/55. Overall there's 42/35 support.
Full results here
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