Recent news reports and polling data all seem to confirm one troubling fact for the Republican Party: their base of support tends to back President Donald Trump more than the party itself.
That could prove to be troubling for members of the GOP in Congress, many of whom have shown wavering support for some of the president’s programs or policy positions in recent weeks.
According to reporting done by the Washington Post, anecdotal findings reveal that Trump supporters aren’t necessarily happy with the Republican Party the president belongs to.
“The Republicans in both the House and the Senate are thwarting the president’s — no, the people’s — agenda,” Debbie Spencer of Greenville, North Carolina, told the Post’s Jenna Johnson.
Johnson’s article in the Post is riddled with similar examples of Trump supporters who do not support the party but rather the candidate. Unaffiliated voters who are angered with a Congress that can’t seem to find consensus on myriad issues facing them is fast becoming a problem for the GOP, who can’t seem to find a way to control a vitriolic president nor the voters that back him.
There’s statistical evidence that fissures are growing in the GOP’s base of support. A recent YouGov/Economist poll finds that both the Republican-led Congress and the president receive terrible marks from the American people — approval ratings of around 11 percent and 39 percent, respectively.
But when you look at Republican respondents, and disregard independents and Democrats in the poll, it’s clear to see that support for the president is stronger than is support for Republicans in Congress. Eighty percent of Republicans approve of Trump’s time in office so far, while only 21 percent of Republican respondents approve of the GOP-run Congress at this time.
There are some signs of the base of Trump’s support losing faith in him: after allegedly forging a deal with Democrats on reinstating DACA and border protections (without a border wall), many Trump supporters started burning their “MAGA” gear on social media, a sign of protest against backing off of a campaign promise the president made on building the wall.
The alleged deal, and subsequent burning of red hats, both occurred after the YouGov poll was conducted.
Watch this video of former Bush administration Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez saying the honeymoon for Trump and the GOP is over:
Featured image via Public Domain/Wikimedia.
