May 5, 2019

90 Percent of Republicans Still Think Trump Is Doing a Great Job

A new poll also shows that a majority of Americans think Trump lied during the Russia investigation.

President Donald Trump smiles during a meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini in the Oval Office Alex Brandon/AP Photo

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For people who really believed President Donald Trump could be toppled by a significant primary challenge in the 2020 election, a new poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal should set them straight: 90 percent of Republicans polled think Trump is doing a great job as president. 

The poll, conducted after the April 18 release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian meddling in the 2016 election, suggests that the report hasn’t changed many minds about the president. Less than a third of the respondents believed the Mueller report exonerated Trump from charges that his campaign colluded with the Russians to influence the outcome of the race against Hillary Clinton. But views on the report continue to filter through a hyperpartisan lens: nearly 70 percent of Democrats think the report failed to clear the president of wrongdoing, while only 11 percent of Republicans see it that way. These numbers have been pretty consistent for the past year, according to NBC, even though Trump’s signature domestic achievement, his massive tax cut bill, remains highly unpopular. The poll shows that the tax cut is even less popular with voters than Obamacare, which had an approval rating above 40 percent, compared with only 27 percent for the tax cut. 

Trump’s popularity among Republicans probably helps explain why poll respondents from both parties were pretty lukewarm about the prospect of impeachment proceedings. Only 30 percent of Democrats thought Congress should start the impeachment now, with most preferring to see more investigation into the Trump campaign’s involvement with the Russians. The new poll suggests that public opinion on the Russia question isn’t likely to change much going forward, even if Mueller himself finally does speak publicly about his investigation. A member of the House Judiciary Committee announced Sunday that Mueller has been invited to appear before it on May 15, but so far the date hasn’t been confirmed. 

Trump, for his part, sees no need for Mueller to testify:

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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