A new national poll released this week shows that Trump supporters increasingly feel that he’s “going too far,” is falling short of their expectations of him for unifying the country, and is “getting sidetracked by things that aren’t important.” All of which amounts to an uptick in “Trump Regretters” (i.e. people who voted for him but no longer support him) since November.
But a majority of Trump supporters still feel the President is “keeping his promises” and “getting things done.”
Last month, half of Trump voters felt he was “surrounding himself with the best people.” This week, 39 percent do.
But Trump – who last month tweeted “Any negative polls are fake news” – may have cause for concern if support among his base continues to fall, said Margie Omero, executive vice president for public affairs at PSB Research, who spearheaded the poll.
“He has no crossover appeal,” Omero told MarieClaire.com, citing other polling outlets that have found Trump to be strong with his supporters, but dangerously weak with Democrats and independents. “So if he starts to slip with his base – as he has in our poll – where does he have room to grow?”
“He has to hold onto his base going into the midterms,” she added. “If this slide continues, he is going to have some serious trouble.”
Omero believes Trump has been operating largely in campaign mode since being elected. “If he was trying to reach out to Democrats, he wouldn’t be doing the Muslim ban, rolling back climate change efforts, or making up accusations against Obama. He’d be focused on infrastructure funding, or meeting with CEOs, and he’d throw away his phone. He’s done very little to extend an olive branch to the people who didn’t vote for him, or to try to heal our country’s partisan divisions.”
Another cautionary flag for Trump in the PSB findings comes from Clinton voters: Voters who were “With Her” last fall are twice as likely as Trump voters to have taken some sort of politically-motivated action since January: contacting their congressional rep, donating to a cause, or switching away from a product or service whose leadership didn’t share their values.
“People are looking for ways to take action,” said Omero. “There may not be a vote until next November, but there’s still plenty to be done between now and then.”