New Donald Trump Poll Numbers: ‘Obama Come Back!’ Most Say
A new poll released Thursday by Public Policy Polling shows high levels of unhappiness with Donald Trump and his policies. With just two weeks passed since Trump’s inauguration, a majority of Americans now say that they wish Barack Obama were still the president of the United States. Obama’s second and final four-year term ended with Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
According to the PPP poll, which surveyed 725 registered voters on January 30 and 31 — 80 percent by phone and 20 percent via the internet — 52 percent of U.S. voters now wish that Obama was still the president. Only 43 percent said that they prefer Trump in the nation’s highest office, while 5 percent said they are not sure.
“Usually a newly elected President is at the peak of their popularity and enjoying their honeymoon period after taking office right now,” PPP president Dean Debnam said in a statement released with the poll results on Thursday, February 2. “But Donald Trump’s making history once again with a sizeable share of voters already wanting to impeach him, and a majority of voters wishing they could have Barack Obama back.”
While a majority do not yet say they are willing to see Donald Trump impeached, according to the PPP poll, 40 percent — four of every 10 registered voters — say they want the new president impeached just two weeks into his four-year term, while only 48 percent say they would be opposed to impeachment. Adding in the 12 percent who say they are not sure, that makes 52 percent who do not currently oppose the impeachment of Trump.
40 percent of voters support impeaching Donald Trump, according to @ppppolls https://t.co/NJD92ri2ss pic.twitter.com/eoWn3sb69y
— WNCN (@WNCN) February 2, 2017
After Trump’s first week in office, 35 percent said they wanted him impeached, according to a previous PPP poll.
That same poll, released on January 26, asked Americans to compare Trump to the previous eight presidents, going back to Richard Nixon, who was first elected in 1968. Voters in that poll said that every president except Nixon was a better president than they expect Trump will turn out to be.
Only 42 percent said that Trump would be a better president than Jimmy Carter, who served from 1977 to 1981, while 43 percent think Trump will be better than Obama, with 48 percent expecting that Obama’s presidency will prove better than Trump’s.
The previous poll also showed that specifically among Trump supporters, 42 percent say that he should be permitted to use a private, non-governmental email server, compared to only 39 percent who said he should not. That finding appeared incongruous because Democrat Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state was a major issue in the presidential campaign, with Trump even calling for Clinton to be jailed over her email practices.
But more Trump voters than not now say that Trump himself should be allowed to do exactly what led to his calls for Clinton’s imprisonment.
The February 2 poll also revealed widespread unhappiness with Trump’s key policies.
By a 14 point margin Americans do NOT support Trumps #Borderwall via @ppppolls https://t.co/FBxLttrRDI #immigration pic.twitter.com/B8s5T0Ph02
— Josh Breisblatt (@jbreisblatt) February 2, 2017
Trump’s plan to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico is opposed by 54 percent of Americans, with only 40 percent in favor, PPP found. Meanwhile, Trump’s executive order banning immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries is opposed by 49 percent with 47 percent in favor.
When asked their opinions about what the immigration executive order actually does, Americans are far more negative, PP found, with 65 percent saying Muslims should not be banned from entering the United States and only 26 percent in favor of a Muslim ban. On the issue of Syrian refugees, who Donald Trump has called a “Trojan horse” allowing terrorists to sneak into the country, 48 percent say they should be allowed to enter the U.S., with 43 percent saying they should be banned.
[Featured Image by Win McNamee/Getty Images]
