Well, it’s not called the base for nothing. Yet, concerning the 2016 election, that term has brought new meaning with the arrival of Donald Trump and his upset win over Hillary Clinton. Even with his agenda seemingly in a state of neutral, and Republicans tripping over health care twice—a new Monmouth poll found that six in ten Trump supporters are never going to abandon the president—ever.
The poll was taken before and after the chaos that broke out in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white nationalists and far left Antifa protesters skirmished, and sending scores of people to the hospital. One woman, Heather Heyer, was killed when a white nationalist plowed through a group of counter demonstrators. The white nationalist groups were there to protest the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue. The response from the Trump administration has been met with fiery criticism from the liberal media and progressive as being insufficient and wrong; Trump blamed both sides for the violence. Indeed, both Anitfa and white nationalists are violent thugs, but perhaps that fact that one side killed a person is what some people are scratching their heads about when the president said both sides were at fault for the violence. In general, he’s right. You cannot condemn the violent political rhetoric of white nationalists without slamming Antifa. At the same time, there are skirmishes and then there’s using your car to mow down people. Frankly, even if Trump had issued a major condemnation, the Left wouldn’t be satisfied, as the poll also showed that both sides have made up their minds about the president. And that’s not going to change (via CNN) [emphasis mine]:
Six in 10 people who approve of President Donald Trump (61%) say they can't think of anything Trump could do that would make them disapprove of his job as President, according to a Monmouth University poll released this week.
Almost an identical number (57%) who disapprove of Trump say they are never going to change their minds on the President's job performance either. This means a majority of Americans (53%) admit they have their opinion of Trump completely, totally and irreversibly baked in.
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Interviews for this poll were conducted both before and after protests turned violent in Charlottesville over the weekend, but before Trump's press conference Tuesday doubling down on his comments blaming "both sides" for the clash.
Trump has mostly maintained high approval numbers among Republicans during his presidency so far, though they have slipped slightly since Inauguration Day. The President repeatedly touted his hardcore following on the campaign trail, boasting that his supporters would stick with him no matter what.
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Majorities of both parties -- 53% of both Republicans and Democrats -- say they can't imagine anything that would change their approval or disapproval of Trump, respectively. A majority of blacks (55%) also say nothing could change their disapproval of Trump.
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So who are the most hardcore groups of Trump backers? Women who approve of Trump are most likely to say they will never change their minds: 72% of female Trump approvers say they will never strip their support, vs. only 54% of male Trump approvers.
Also, 68% of approvers over 55 years old say they won't stop supporting Trump, along with 67% of approvers who have a high school degree or less and 67% of approvers who make under $50,000 per year.
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The Monmouth University poll was conducted from August 10-14, 2017. The sample size includes 805 adults for a margin of error of ±3.5 percentage points for full sample. The NPR/PBS/Marist survey was conducted from August 14-15, 2017. The sample size was 1,125 adults for a margin of error of ±2.9 percentage points for the full sample. In both surveys, the margin of error is larger for subgroups.
Concerning gender breakdown, the strength of Trump female voter bloc is somewhat ironic, given that the Clinton campaign tried relentlessly to destroy him over a hot mic moment from an Access Hollywood tape, where Trump and then-host Billy Bush engaged in some locker room talk. Progressives were horrified, but everyone who doesn’t live in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco shrugged.
No one cared.
Liberals will tout the new NBC News poll showing Trump’s support dipping in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Yet, again, this is all based on his personality, which Leah noted in July. On the issues, he scored higher on the economic issues:
Yet Trump gets higher marks on the economy in all three states.
In Michigan, voters by a 42-to-39 percent margin say the U.S. economy has been strengthened by Trump’s decisions as president. In Pennsylvania, it’s 45 percent to 38 percent. And in Wisconsin, it’s dead even at 41 percent each.
You may not like the guy, but if he creates a better climate for job creation and puts more money in your pocket, you’ll vote for him. Most Americans know that politicians are snakes and Washington D.C. is a snake pit. In the meantime, there are no mass defections and I don’t think there will be any from Trump’s base. It’s holding strong.