A new poll shows an overwhelming number of registered voters back many of President Trump’s key policies even as his overall approval rating has slipped — while the midterm elections are in a dead heat.
A whopping 75% back his deporting of violent criminal illegal immigrants, 73% agree with his cracking down on fraud and even more — 84% of respondents — said they support Trump’s efforts to slash prescription drug prices, according to a Harvard-Harris CAPS poll late last month.
Other Trump policies that drew high marks from voters included the safeguarding of girls’ sports for biological females (63%), the capping of credit-card interest rates (69%) and raising fitness standards in the military (63%).
On the war in Iran, while only 39% approve of his handling of the conflict, 74% agree that it’s in America’s interest to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuke, the poll showed.
“Voters continue to focus on cost of living while the president is winning wider acceptance of his Iran plans,” said Mark Penn, co-director of the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll. “They want him to hold fast on the terms for any peace deals.”
Other Trump policies were less popular, such as cutting Medicaid (56% disapproval), massively expanding deportation raids across the country (53%) and his use of tariffs (51%).
As for the president’s latest overall approval rating, it clocked in at 42%. A myriad of polls have shown it slipping since the war in Iran began Feb. 28. The president currently has an average 40.5% approval to 56.5% disapproval rating, according to the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate.
In terms of his handling of the economy and inflation, his latest approval ratings continued a downward trend since the beginning of the year, dropping to 39% and 37%, respectively, marking a blow for issues that used to be strong for him.
Those polled generally expressed concerns about the cost of living. But those concerns haven’t necessarily translated into major gains for Democrats.
When asked about party preference for control of Congress after the midterms, voters were split between Republicans and Democrats 50% to 50%. Previous similar polls have typically not addressed this question.
Republicans’ approval rating notched up to 45% in the poll, which is slightly above Democrats’ 43%. Since 1938, the party out of power in the White House has lost House seats in all but two elections.
“What’s interesting about this poll is that it picks up and agrees with many other polls about the key issues. Affordability, the economy, immigration, healthcare, Iran, et cetera,” Trump’s former top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said of the poll.
“Where it differs from many other polls and lefty press reporting, though, is that while some people may blame Republicans, they blame Democrats more on all the key issues.”
The Harvard poll was run by Penn, who previously served as an adviser to former President Bill Clinton and as Hillary Clinton’s chief political strategist in 2008.
The poll sampled 2,745 registered voters from April 23-26 with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.87 percentage points. It included 977 Republicans, 984 Democrats, and 785 Independents.
