Tag: polls
MAGA Voters Like Trump's Big Bill -- Until They Learn What It Does

MAGA Voters Like Trump's Big Bill -- Until They Learn What It Does

Reported by Phil Galewitz

Nearly two-thirds of adults oppose President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” approved in May by the House of Representatives, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released on June 17.

And even Trump’s most ardent supporters like the legislation a lot less when they learn how it would cut federal spending on health programs, the poll shows.

The KFF poll found that about 61 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents — and 72 percent of the subset who identify with Trump’s “Make American Great Again” movement — support the bill, which would extend many of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts while reducing spending on domestic programs, including cutting billions from Medicaid.

But when pollsters told survey respondents about the bill’s consequences for health care, opposition grew, including among MAGA supporters.

For example, after being told that the bill would decrease funding for local hospitals and increase the number of people without health insurance, support among those who back MAGA dropped more than 20 percentage points — resulting in fewer than half the group still backing the bill.

Ashley Kirzinger, KFF’s director of survey methodology and associate director of its Public Opinion and Survey Research program, said it’s no surprise polling shows that party affiliation affects how most of the public views the bill.

“But the poll shows that support, even among MAGA supporters, drops drastically once the public hears more about how the bill could impact local hospitals and reduce Medicaid coverage,” she said.

“This shows how the partisan lens wears slightly when the public learns more about how the legislation could affect them and their families.”

KFF is a health policy research, polling, and news organization that includes KFF Health News.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican who won passage of the legislation in the chamber he controls by a single vote on May 22, has insisted the bill would not “cut Medicaid.” The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which calculates the effects of legislation on the nation’s deficits and debt, says the measure would reduce federal spending on Medicaid by $793 billion over 10 years, resulting in nearly 8 million more people becoming uninsured.

The bill is encountering strident opposition from the health industry, most notably hospitals that expect to see large cuts in funding as a result of millions of people losing Medicaid coverage. The House-passed legislation would increase the frequency of eligibility checks and require that most nondisabled adults regularly prove they are working, studying, or volunteering at least 80 hours a month to keep their coverage.

“This is common sense,” Johnson said May 25 on the CBS News program “Face the Nation.” “And when the American people understand what we are doing here, they applaud it.”

Critics say the bill marks the latest attempt by Republicans to roll back the Affordable Care Act.

As the Senate moves toward a possible vote on its version of the legislation before Independence Day, the KFF poll shows Medicaid and the ACA are more popular than ever.

About 83 percent of adults support Medicaid, including large majorities of Democrats (93 percent), independents (83 percent), and Republicans (74 percent). That’s up from 77 percent in January, with the poll finding the biggest jump in favorability among Republicans.

Medicaid and the related Children’s Health Insurance Program cover about 78 million people who are disabled or have low incomes.

About two-thirds of adults hold favorable views of the ACA, the most since the law’s enactment in 2010, as recorded in KFF polls. The law has only been consistently popular with a majority of adults since about 2021.

Views of the ACA remain split along partisan lines, with most Republicans (63 percent) holding unfavorable views and most Democrats (94 percent) and independents (71 percent) viewing it favorably.

The poll found other indications that the public may not understand key provisions of the GOP bill, including its work requirements.

The poll finds two-thirds of the public — including the vast majority of Republicans (88 percent) and MAGA supporters (93 percent) and half (51 percent) of Democrats — initially support requiring nearly all adults on Medicaid to prove they are working or looking for work, in school, or doing community service, with exceptions such as for caregivers and people with disabilities.

However, attitudes toward this provision shifted dramatically when respondents were presented with more information.

For example, when told most adults with Medicaid are already working or unable to work, and that those individuals could lose coverage due to the challenge of documenting it, about half of supporters changed their view, resulting in nearly two-thirds of adults opposing Medicaid work requirements and about a third supporting them.

The poll of 1,321 adults was conducted online and by telephone June 4-8 and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Former President Donald Trump

Global Approval Of US Plummets As Trump Imposes Tariffs, Attacks Allies

Since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, approval of the United States has fallen by double-digit percentage points in multiple countries, according to a Pew Research Center poll released on Wednesday.

The drop in global support follows Trump’s decision to insult multiple nations by imposing tariffs on allies—and even threatening military action.

In total, support for the United States fell in 19 of the 24 countries that Pew surveyed.

“Majorities in most countries also express little or no confidence in Trump’s ability to handle specific issues, including immigration, the Russia-Ukraine war, U.S.-China relations, global economic problems, conflicts between Israel and its neighbors, and climate change,” the Pew report summarized.

Most respondents characterized Trump as arrogant and dangerous, and very few of the people surveyed regarded the only convicted felon to serve as president as honest.

Support for the United States significantly declines from Pew’s 2024 poll, when President Joe Biden was in office. Notable declines occurred among the closest U.S. allies, including a 32 percent decrease in Mexico, 20 percent in Canada, 10 percent in France, 15 percent in Japan, and 16 percent in Germany.

Only three nations view the United States more favorably than they did in 2024: Israel, Nigeria, and Turkey. Though support increased by just seven percent or less.

This loss of global support comes after Trump decided to unilaterally impose tariffs on a host of nations, increasing the costs for businesses worldwide.

On Tuesday, the World Bank announced that Trump’s tariffs disrupted global progress in the “soft landing” in recovery from COVID-19. The bank cited “turbulence” and lowered its projections of economic growth to the slowest in 17 years, outside of the 2008 and 2020 recessions.

When he isn’t disrupting global business, Trump has used his power to attack a steady succession of nations. He has repeatedly antagonized Canada, arguing that it should become the 51st state. He directly insulted the leaders of key allies like Ireland and Ukraine while reigniting his longstanding racist feud with Mexico, even renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.”

Trump also floated the notion of using military force to take over Greenland, where he even deployed Vice President JD Vance, further inflaming tensions.

In more recent developments, Trump’s military invasion of Los Angeles is unlikely to improve global perceptions of the United States, not to mention the harassment and detention of international visitors and students.

U.S. tourism is also down under Trump, as he’s made the country more inhospitable to trading partners and allies. The ripple effect of his actions continues to hurt U.S. businesses that rely on spending by tourists, putting a black mark on the country’s global reputation.

Let’s just hope it’s not permanent.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Rupert Murdoch

Declining Polls On Fox News Enrage President

President Donald Trump has never liked when pollsters say he’s doing worse than he thinks he is. But now he’s escalating his war on polls and the press, suggesting that even right-wing media outlets should scrap their polling arms if the results don’t flatter him.

According to a Fox News poll released Wednesday, Trump’s approval rating is officially lower than it was during his first term, just as he approaches the 100-day mark of his second term.

The survey found his rating underwater at 44% approval and 55% disapproval—down five points from the previous month. Even worse, Trump’s 100-day rating lags behind Joe Biden’s (54%), Barack Obama’s (62%), and George W. Bush’s (63%) at the same point in their presidencies.

Even Republicans aren’t exactly brimming with optimism. Just 38% of voters overall—and 75% of Republicans—say they’re “encouraged” about the next four years. That’s a drop from his first term in 2017, which showed 45% and 84%, respectively.

The same poll gave Trump poor marks across the board—on the economy, foreign policy, guns, immigration, you name it. His economic approval in particular sank to a record low at 38%, with 55% of respondents saying conditions are getting worse for their families.

So how did Trump respond to this news? By calling for Fox News to kill its polling unit.

“Rupert Murdoch has told me for years that he is going to get rid of his FoxNews, Trump Hating, Fake Pollster, but he has never done so. This ‘pollster’ has gotten me, and MAGA, wrong for years. Also, and while he’s at it, he should start making changes at the China Loving Wall Street Journal. It sucks!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday.

Of course, this isn’t some isolated poll. An April Ipsos survey for Reuters put Trump’s approval at just 42%, with only 37% backing his handling of the economy. A new Pew Research Center poll had him even lower, at 40%, with negative ratings across every major policy area. And a YouGov poll for The Economist wasn’t any better, with Trump clocking in at 41% approval, with every issue underwater there, too.

In other words: reality bites. But rather than face it, Trump’s trying to pressure outlets like Fox News and The Wall Street Journal into becoming full-time propaganda machines.

His push to kill off Fox’s polling arm is especially alarming given that it routinely produces some of the highest-quality polling in the business. If Fox caves, it would be a scandal—but not entirely shocking. Media executives have buckled to Trump before, afraid of the blowback if they don’t stay in his good graces.

Trump’s already suing CBS News’ “60 Minutes” for $10 billion, and he’s gone after ABC News, which recently settled a defamation suit and agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s future presidential library. The Washington Post has also drifted rightward under Trump, winning plaudits from the administration for its “balance.”

And while polling isn’t perfect, Trump has a habit of going after those who publish anything he doesn’t like.

In December, he sued The Des Moines Register and veteran pollster Ann Selzer for a pre-election poll showing Vice President Kamala Harris leading him in Iowa. Trump ended up winning the state by more than 13 points, and now he’s trying to make it a courtroom issue.

Trump’s latest tantrum makes his vision clear: Any outlet that doesn’t treat him like a demigod should be silenced, sued, or shut down. What he’s building isn’t just a cult of personality; it’s a MAGA-approved echo chamber where the “truth” is whatever he says it is.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Polls: Voters Angry At Democratic Leaders (But They Don't Love GOP Either)

Polls: Voters Angry At Democratic Leaders (But They Don't Love GOP Either)

Two new polls indicate that Democratic voters are continuing to lose faith in their party as leadership struggles to respond to President Donald Trump.

An SSRS poll for CNN released Sunday found that only 29 percent of adults view Democrats favorably, marking a new low in CNN’s polling since 1992 and a 20-point drop since January 2021. Even Democrats and left-leaning respondents were less enthusiastic about their party, with just 63 percent favorability—down from 72 percent in January.

This starkly contrasts with the survey’s Republican and right-leaning respondents, who reported 79 percent favorability of the Republican Party.

Meanwhile, a second survey released Sunday by NBC News revealed that 27 percent of registered voters hold a positive view of Democrats—the lowest rating recorded in the outlet’s polls since 1990. And merely seven percent of respondents indicated a “very” positive view of Democrats.

While NBC’s poll also found that the Republican Party has a net negative image—49 percent of voters view it unfavorably and 39 percent view it favorably)—it noted that the GOP could at least take comfort in controlling both chambers of Congress and the presidency. Democrats, however, have to cling to the hope that their party might reclaim maybe one chamber of Congress in 2026.

Both surveys suggest that the lack of support for the Democratic Party stems from its own voters feeling fed up. Not only have they witnessed their party’s loss to Trump in 2024, but now they face Democratic leaders attempting to compromise with the president—something Republicans would never consider if the roles were reversed.

As top Democrats continue to bend a knee to Trump, he and Elon Musk have taken a hatchet to the federal government, making massive cuts via the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

The results of these surveys come as Democrats continue disagreeing on the best way to govern. Over the weekend, progressives—and even some lawmakers from the party’s more moderate wing—harshly criticized Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for conceding to Trump on the GOP-backed government spending bill.

After the House passed a partisan spending bill, Schumer and nine other Senate Democrats voted for cloture on Friday, ending a filibuster of Republicans’ detrimental funding bill. The bill proposed significant cuts to the federal budget while increasing defense spending by approximately $6 billion.

Schumer has defended his decision, even amid calls for him to step down or be replaced. But it remains unclear who he is trying to please. Some of his party members are weary of him, and now the public is shifting their support away from him, too.

In the SSRS poll for CNN, 57 percent of Democrats and left-leaning respondents expressed a desire for the party to focus on obstructing Trump’s agenda, compared to 42 percent who favored working with the GOP.

And NBC reported a similar finding: 65 percent of self-identified Democratic voters want their party to “stick to their positions even if this means not getting things done in Washington.”

Only 32 percent indicated a desire for Democrats to compromise with Trump, which marks a complete reversal from where Democrats stood in 2017, when 59 percent wanted members of Congress to seek consensus on policy.

These numbers may get worse over time, as both polls were largely or wholly conducted before the standoff over the government funding bill. Still, the results underscore how much Democratic voters are itching for their party to play at least some form of defense.

“I’m scared that compromising will lead to the downfall of our democracy, to only be slightly hyperbolic. It’s really scary to see the things being done, the things being slashed left and right without any regard for the outcome,” a Democratic voter and survey respondent told NBC.

These findings also align with a series of polls released last week, which suggest that Democratic voters view their party as ineffective and lacking direction.

Nevertheless, some Democratic leaders appear content to acquiesce to Trump rather than push back. And in doing so, they are alienating voters.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

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