Anti-Trump partisanship has turned Democrats even further away from President Trump despite the economic surge and accompanying drop in unemployment that has pushed many in a new poll to feel better about the direction of the nation and their own financial situation.
While the positive view of Americans in several key economic categories has increased since Trump beat Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2016, Democrats have soured on the president, according to the latest Democracy Fund Voter Study.
The reason, said the analysis, is that their dislike of the president trumps evidence of the improving economy.
“Partisanship has strongly affected how Americans’ views have evolved over the past two years. Americans who share the party of the president are more likely to respond positively to these questions than those who are of the opposite party,” said the survey.
“This is consistent with other research that suggests that other assessments like presidential approval have become untethered from the country’s economic condition,” said the survey.
The questions and results tell the story in the survey titled “Two Years In How Americans’ Views Have — and Have Not — Changed During Trump’s Presidency:”
- Would you say things in this country today are generally headed in the right direction or off on the wrong track? Republicans 68%, Democrats 11%.
- Overall, do you think the economy is getting better or worse? Republicans 65%, Democrats 10%. Democrats 13%.
- Would you say that you and your family are better off financially, about the same, or worse off financially than a year ago? Republicans 39%, Democrats 13%.
The survey also found that about half of the country has over the past two years expressed approval of Trump. But it said that rather than considering it a base of support, it might be a ceiling.
“About half (49%) of Americans have at some point in the past two years expressed a favorable opinion of the president. While Trump’s remarkably stable favorability numbers have often been cited as a ‘floor,’ these 49% of Americans might represent his ‘ceiling,’” it said.
And in a potential warning for the White House, it found that supporters of former President Barack Obama who voted for Trump are tailing off.
“Only Obama-Trump voters have had a significant change in their view of President Trump over the last two years. In the 2016 VOTER Survey, more than 8 in 10 (85%) Obama-Trump voters held a ‘favorable’ view of the president — 19 percentage points higher than in 2019 (66%),” said the analysis.
[Also read: Trump approval reaches record high in Gallup poll]
