As Jason wrote earlier this morning, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s weak favorable numbers are history. Reuters/Ipsos and Bloomberg conducted two polls that showed the president-elect with a 52 percent and 50 percent favorable rating respectively. Bloomberg added that 73 percent are perfectly fine with Trump reconsidering his positions on Obamacare, the Muslim ban, and a special prosecutor to look into Hillary Clinton’s email server.
Also, unlike some on the Progressive Left, a majority of Americans appear to not only view Trump more positively, but are confident that he’ll put the country’s interests over his own (now former) business ties. Additionally, if the media thinks they’re going to catch Trump backpedaling on some key campaign promises he made they’re sadly mistaken. This election showed that the president-elect is a different animal, and most think that he won’t deliver on some of his pledges on immigration (via ABC News):
His favorability rating sits at 50 percent, according to a national Bloomberg poll out today.Just 37 percent of Americans polled believe the country is heading in the right direction, while 49 percent feel that the country is heading in the wrong direction. The poll, conducted Dec. 2 through 5, also shows that 55 percent are more optimistic about a Trump presidency from his actions and statements since Election Day, while 35 percent are more pessimistic about the prospect of Trump in the White House.
And according to the Bloomberg poll, 51 percent of those surveyed are very or mostly confident that Trump will put America's interests ahead of his business's as he meets with foreign leaders. Last week he tweeted that he'll cut ties to his business "in total" to focus on running the country.
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But when it comes to two of his key campaign promises related to immigration, more than half of those surveyed don't think he'll keep his word: 57 percent don't expect millions of undocumented immigrants to be deported, and 65 percent don't expect a wall to be built on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The breakdown of the Bloomberg poll was pretty solid. The sample size was 999, which is a solid number for a national poll, with a party breakdown of 27/29/19 Republican, Democrat, and Independent respectively. It’s a D+2 poll, but when you factor in the leaners, it’s 38/37/19. It’s a pretty fair poll.
So, let’s say Trump isn’t as gung-ho about deporting illegal immigrants, though I still think he’ll be more aggressive, and rightfully so, in getting rid of criminal illegal aliens. The wall is also fraught with nuance since it may not look like the Great Wall of China, but we’ll likely see more obstacles, fencing, and border patrol agents if the president-elect wants to tighten border security. All of this is fine, but given the Carrier deal and the $50 billion SoftBank agreement, which is projected to create 50,000 jobs, I’d say Trump is going to focus on jobs, tax reform, and getting the economy moving again. Job creation and the economy was the number one concern of voters surveyed—and he has to deliver something tangible and visible to the working class in order to maintain their support in four years. As the exits showed on election night, millions of Obama supporters voted for Trump. Some people voted for Obama twice and flipped for the president-elect. America wanted a change, they voted for a person outside the political class, and if he can’t deliver—they’re certainly going to throw him out—and it won’t be because he walked back on a few campaign promises. These voters already felt the system was corrupt and rigged and they know that politicians can’t deliver on everything. But job creation seems to be the area where Mr. Trump can consolidate his support and get the most dividends, especially when it comes to re-election.
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