We just got our clearest sign yet that Trump can work with Democrats and lose virtually no support

Donald TrumpKevin Lamarque/Reuters

President Donald Trump's base seems to be totally fine with him making recent overtures to Democrats, a Monmouth University poll showed Wednesday.

Respondents overwhelmingly said that Trump's dealings with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi were not a problem at all.

Monmouth asked those surveyed if Trump has either been too willing to work with Democrats, not willing enough, or has he shown the right amount of willingness.

Among Republican respondents, just 6% said Trump was too willing to work with Democrats. A whopping 88% said he was either not willing enough or had shown the proper amount of willingness to work across the aisle. When respondents who identified as "conservative" were asked, just 5% said Trump was too willing to work with Democrats. On the other hand, 87% of conservative respondents said he either showed the proper amount of willingness or should be more willing.

When Monmouth asked respondents from counties that Trump won over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton by more than 10 points last fall, 87% said Trump was showing the right amount of willingness or should be more willing to work with Democrats, while just 4% said Trump was too willing.

"Most of the president's supporters reject the criticism that he is caving on core principles and they accept Trump's assertion that he has to turn to Democrats if the GOP leadership keeps failing him," Monmouth University Polling Institute director Patrick Murray said.

The poll came after Trump spent the early parts of September reaching across the aisle to try and deal with Democrats on a number of issues, including the debt ceiling, immigration, and tax reform.

Trump, Schumer, and Pelosi first struck a deal earlier this month add a three-month suspension of the federal debt ceiling — and a continuing resolution to fund the government through early December — to a bill that would also include money for Hurricane Harvey relief. That agreement, which was reached during a White House meeting with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders, flew in the face of what House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were advocating.

Then, at a White House dinner with Schumer and Pelosi the following week, the three appeared to agree on the framework of a deal over how to handle young immigrants protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects immigrants in the country illegally who were brought to the US as minors.

Schumer and Pelosi said in a statement that the three "agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that's acceptable to both sides," as the Democratic leaders said in a statement following their dinner with the president.

Some conservatives and prominent Trump supporters blasted one of or both of the agreements, though other supporters expressed approval for Trump's dealings.

The Monmouth poll found that Trump's overall approval rating was 40%, which is roughly unchanged from its August poll.

"Donald Trump's approval rating continues to hold steady," Murray said. "Rampant speculation that recent overtures to Democrats would undermine critical support in his base is not supported by these results."

In other polls, Trump has experienced an uptick in support following his bipartisan efforts.

A Politico/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday showed that Trump's approval rating jumped 4 points from last month, improving to 43% from 39%.

And in the Gallup daily presidential tracking poll, Trump saw his approval jump to 39% on Wednesday, a five-point increase from his presidential low of 34%, which he hit again earlier this month.

The Monmouth poll was conducted between September 15 and 19. The university surveyed 1,009 adults with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

NOW WATCH: Watch Stephen Colbert bring out Sean Spicer at the Emmys to defend the crowd size

No comments:

Powered by Blogger.