The FINANCIAL — President Trump has met the enemy, and it’s himself.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 55% of Likely U.S. Voters think Trump is his own worst political enemy. In distant second is the national media, cited as his worst enemy by 25%.
Just 14% believe Democrats are the Republican president’s chief political foe, while five percent (5%) blame other Republicans.
As nearly always in surveys involving Trump, there’s a sharp partisan difference of opinion. While 73% of Democrats and 59% of voters not affiliated with either major party view the president as his own worst political enemy, only 30% of Republicans agree.
More Republicans (37%) see the national media as Trump’s biggest enemy; 23% say it’s the Democrats. Interestingly, GOP voters (7%) are slightly more likely than Democrats (4%) and unaffiliateds (3%) to see other Republicans as the president’s worst political enemy.
Trump’s daily job approval rating has fallen into the high 30s this week from a high of 59% just after he took office in January.
The majority of voters in most demographic categories rate the president as his own worst political enemy.
Blacks share this view much more strongly than whites and other minority voters.
Men are more critical of the national media than women are.
Fifty-five percent (55%) of voters who Strongly Approve of the job Trump is doing think the national media is his worst political enemy. Among those who Strongly Disapprove of the president’s job performance, 90% say he is his own worst enemy.
Over six months into the Trump presidency, Republican voters still say they relate more to the president’s political views than those of their party’s representatives in Congress. Most Republicans continue to believe that GOP members of Congress have lost touch with the party’s voters from throughout the nation.
Voters in general are more likely to believe Republicans in Congress are a bigger problem for Trump than Democrats are.
Most voters believe that it’s bad for America and bad for the Democratic Party if Democrats resist everything Trump does. But a majority of Democratic voters think the opposite is true.
Forty-four percent (44%) of all voters believe most reporters are trying to block Trump from passing his agenda. By comparison, 48% said most reporters were trying to help President Obama pass his agenda in 2010.
Many of the complaints about Trump have involved his frequent use of Twitter. Just 26% think the president’s use of the social media outlet is good for the country.
