Friday, February 25, 2022

SO NOW THERE ARE TWO THINGS TRUMP AND MUCH OF HIS BASE DISAGREE ON

Donald Trump said admiring things about Vladimir Putin this week, but as Hot Air's Allahpundit notes, poll after poll shows that Republicans don't admire Putin much. First, Gallup:
Republicans and Democrats are united in their negative views of Russia, with 88% of both groups holding an unfavorable view of the country, compared with 82% of independents. In 2021, Republicans and independents were equally likely to view the country negatively, with 74% of both groups expressing unfavorable views, while 84% of Democrats did so.
Then Echelon:
Here’s another surprising poll result, one that dovetails with the Gallup numbers. It’s true that Republicans are critical of how Biden has handled Russia but it’s not because he’s been too aggressive in confronting Putin.... It’s because he hasn’t been aggressive enough:


A Morning Consult poll says that 46% of Americans and 44% of Republicans believe our government should "impose sanctions on Russia even if it causes the price of goods in my country to rise," which is more than the 37% (and 41% of Republicans) who think sanctions should be imposed only if inflation doesn't result, or shouldn't impose sanctions at all. A YouGov poll has someone stronger support for sanctions, and that support is from Republicans as well as the rest of the country:


So now there are two issues on which Trump and a large portion of his base disagree: vaccines and Putin. Will it matter? I doubt it. Note that Gallup's numbers for Putin were bad last year, even among Republicans. And yet Trump has consistently won 2024 Republican primary polls.

Trump's base doesn't cling to him because of an issues checklist, unless you count the wall as an issue. It's all emotional. It's all about believing he radiates "strength." It's all about how vigorously he expresses his hate for everyone they hate. They won't abandon him.

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