A new poll found voters are nearly split over how President Trump is tackling the opioid epidemic.
The poll from Morning Consult and Politico comes as Congress is pondering increasing funding to fight opioid abuse. Democrats have also charged that an emergency declaration Trump made on the opioid crisis back in October hasn’t done enough to fight an epidemic killing 91 Americans a day.
The poll released Wednesday found that 38 percent thought Trump has done a “sufficient amount” to address opioid abuse and 36 percent felt he did not, with 26 percent who had no opinion or didn’t know.
Approximately 40 percent of the respondents who lean Democratic believe Trump hasn’t done enough to fight opioid abuse, compared to 35 percent of Republicans who find Trump’s actions weren’t enough. For independents, 33 percent believe Trump hasn’t done enough while 35 percent believe he has.
The public is also split over which party is the most trusted to handle the opioid epidemic. The poll found 32 percent of voters picked congressional Democrats and 33 percent Republicans, while 34 percent didn’t know or had no opinion.
There was a majority, though, on support for increasing funding to fight opioid abuse. Overall, 69 percent either strongly supported or somewhat supported more funding while 17 percent opposed it and 13 percent had no opinion.
A group of 10 senators and one independent clamored for Trump to renew the emergency declaration last month. They charge that the declaration didn’t come with any new funding to fight the epidemic.
Democrats and Republicans are pressing for more money to fight the opioid epidemic, but haven’t agreed on a specific number until a budget deal is reached. Now congressional negotiators are close to a two-year spending deal, meaning that an exact number can be hammered out.
The poll results were based on a survey of 1,985 registered voters. It has a margin of error of two percentage points.
