The survey shows that 36% approve of Biden’s job performance, with 62% disapproving—a record-low rating in Journal polls during his presidency. By an almost identical gap of 36% to 60%, voters view the Democratic Party more unfavorably than favorably. That marks the party’s weakest rating in Journal polls dating to 1990.But the Journal's pollsters don't see a massive mandate for what Donald Trump intends to do as president:
Voters support many of the goals President-elect Donald Trump has set for his second term. They are just not on board with all the ways he wants to accomplish them....The opposition to many specifics of the Trump agenda is quite significant:
Some 53% want Trump to make significant changes in how government is run once he is inaugurated Monday. But more than 60% oppose one of his central ideas for doing so—replacing thousands of career civil-service workers with people chosen by the president.
More than 60% also oppose eliminating the Education Department, a marquee Trump proposal for paring the federal government. Only 18% would supersede congressional powers and give Trump more authority over federal spending, as he has proposed.
* His promise to pardon people convicted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol drew opposition from 57% of voters.A new New York Times poll gets some similar results, although the Times frames them very differently:
* More than two-thirds oppose using economic coercion or military force to take control of Greenland, while 57% oppose using coercion or force to retake control of the Panama Canal....
* Two-thirds oppose making Canada the 51st state....
* Half say it is a bad idea for Elon Musk ... to serve as an adviser, while 39% say it is a good idea.
* By a margin of 64% to 31%, voters oppose ending birthright citizenship....
* Voters place a high priority on protecting funding for education, healthcare and social safety-net program.... By about 60% to 34%, voters say protecting those programs is more important than cutting taxes or reducing the federal debt.
For a political figure so divisive — Americans view him more negatively than any other president about to take office in the last 70 years — the level of support for his ideas is striking. Most Americans say the United States has ignored serious problems at home while entangling itself in costly conflicts abroad, the poll found. A majority believe the government is sending too much money to Ukraine. And many are expressing less tolerance of immigrants overall.There's strong support (87%) for deporting undocumented immigrants who are criminals, or who arrived recently (63%). But 55% of respondents want to retain birthright citizenship, and 62% want to keep protecting those who were brought here illegally as children. Also:
... even though most people expect [Trump] will use the government to investigate and prosecute his political opponents, the vast majority of Americans do not want him to. That includes a majority of Republicans.And while this isn't mentioned in the Times write-up of the poll, 69% of respondents want childhood polio, measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines to remain mandatory. (The numbers are here.)
Overall, 73 percent of Americans say they oppose the idea of Mr. Trump pursuing legal charges against his adversaries — with 49 percent saying they are strongly opposed.
So there's a lot of stuff Trump plans to do that won't be popular at all. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party isn't very popular. So, I have a crazy, nutball, out-of-the-box idea for Democrats:
Why not brand yourselves as -- you might want to sit down for this -- the opposition party?
Specifically, the party that opposes all the things Trump is likely to do that 60% or 70% of the public doesn't want him to do?
I know -- a wacky idea, right?
Since you guys like jargon, and were very excited a couple of years ago about a concept called "popularism," which was basically Let's support policies voters like, we could call this "negative popularism." The message: You know all the really crazy shit Trump wants to do? We're against it!
But Democrats have been afraid to be forthright about opposing Trump on anything. Until this week's hearings, they were afraid even to say that appointing an alleged alcoholic rapist as secretary of defense was a bad idea, apparently because we're really unpopular and Trump won an overwhelming victory (he didn't) so we'd better shut up about everything he's doing, even the batshit crazy stuff! And the result is that millions of Americans, particularly independents, have no idea what Trump's nominees are like. From the Times poll:
It's true that these polls make clear that Americans want a crackdown on at least some undocumented immigrants. Sadly, on trans issues, Americans accept the right's framing (which is also much of the mainstream media's framing): teens shouldn't get trans medical care and trans women shouldn't compete in women's sports.
But on so many subjects, the public strongly opposes what Trump wants to do. And the public is still personally wary of Trump.
Start with that, Democrats! Talk about the idiocy of trying to steal Greenland! Talk about Trump's vendettas! Defend the polio vaccine!
It's a wacky idea, but it just might work!
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