A new poll, released Friday by the Democratic-leaning research firm Public Policy Polling, found broad-based opposition to many central items of President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Perhaps most immediately notable for the Trump administration, more respondents were opposed to than supported the President’s immigration executive order, which halted immigration and travel to the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries, and suspended the United States’ refugee program. Forty-nine percent of respondents were opposed to the order, while 45 percent supported it. Six percent of respondents were not sure.
Just as notable, it seems a large percentage of respondents thought it was poorly executed. Dozens of travelers were left in limbo at airports around the country in the hours after the ban was signed, and huge crowds rallied against the order.
Only 27 percent of respondents said the order was well executed, as opposed to 66 percent who thought it was poorly executed. Seven percent were not sure.
And, in light of Trump’s repeated attacks on federal judges deliberating over the order, the poll also found that respondents trusted the judiciary more than the President to make the right decisions for the country.
Fifty-three percent of respondents trusted judges to make the right decision more than Trump, generally speaking, while 38 percent trusted Trump more than judges. Nine percent were not sure.
Respondents were generally unsupportive of Trump’s pledge to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, too. Forty-seven percent of respondents were supportive of the health care law, while 39 percent opposed it and 14 percent were not sure.
Meanwhile, 65 percent of respondents preferred that Congress keep what works in the law and fix what doesn’t, while just 32 percent wanted to start over with a new health care law. Three percent were not sure.
Finally, while Trump has said American taxpayers will provide the up-front funding for a massive wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, respondents were unsupportive of that proposal. Only 37 percent of respondents supported a border wall if it meant taxpayers would have to initially foot the bill, while 56 percent were opposed to it. Seven percent were undecided.
PPP conducted the poll, of 712 registered voted, on Feb. 7-8. Eighty percent of participants, selected through a list based sample, responded via the phone, while 20 percent of respondents who did not have landlines conducted the survey through an opt-in internet panel, PPP reported. The poll’s margin of error was 3.7 percentage points.
