The verdict is in: Nobody cares.
Bloomberg News released a poll on Monday and, of course, couched it in the worst possible terms for President Donald Trump.
“Americans Feel Good About the Economy, Not So Good About Trump,” said the headline.
“Almost six months into Donald Trump’s presidency, Americans are feeling fairly optimistic about their jobs, the strength of the U.S. economy, and their own fortunes. That should be welcome news for the president, except for one thing: The public’s confidence largely appears to be in spite of Trump, not because of him.”
Throughout the story, Bloomberg downplayed Trump’s role in the improving job market and thundering economy. We’ll get back to that later, but something glaring leaped out at us.
Here are the top issues people care about:
- Health care — 35%
- Unemployment and jobs — 13%
- Terrorism — 11%
- Immigration — 10%
- Climate Change — 10%
- Relationship with Russia — 6%
- Taxes — 4%
- Other — 4%
- Trade — 2%
- None of these — 2%
- Not sure — 2%
The question posed to those surveyed was “Which of the following do you see as the most important issue facing the country right now?”
So, 79% said, “Not Russia.”
Just 6% said Russia — despite the nonstop coverage from the mainstream media on unsubstantiated allegations that Trump and his campaign team colluded with Vladimir Putin to swing the 2016 election Trump’s way.
Nobody cares. In fact, the Russia relationship is just 2 points above “Other” and the combined “None of these” and “Not sure.” As one-time adviser Van Jones called it, the Russia story is a real “nothingburger.”
But you know what else the poll found? Some really good stuff for Trump (although you wouldn’t know it with that dismal, “glass half brutally murdered” headline).
“There are at least two areas where Americans say they believe Trump will deliver: Almost two-thirds say he will make significant cuts in government regulation, though it’s not clear whether most think that’s a good or bad thing. Likewise, 53 percent believe he will succeed in deporting millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally,” the story said.
Also: “Trump’s voters are still sticking with him. Among those who cast ballots for him, 89 percent still say he’s doing a good job.”
The article puts Trump’s approval rating at 40% and notes that “Almost six months into Donald Trump’s presidency, Americans are feeling fairly optimistic about their jobs, the strength of the U.S. economy, and their own fortunes.”
“The latest Bloomberg National Poll shows 58 percent of Americans believe they’re moving closer to realizing their own career and financial aspirations, tied for the highest recorded in the poll since the question was first asked in February 2013.”
Of course, Bloomberg doesn’t ascribe any of that optimism to Trump: “The public’s confidence largely appears to be in spite of Trump, not because of him.”
And as we always do with polls, we like to take a look at the methodology, find out the political self-identifications of those surveyed. According to Bloomberg, 37% were Democrats or leaned Left, while 30% were Republicans or leaned Right.
We’re still waiting for a poll that has an equal number of from each party — but we’re not holding our breath.