DO NOT DISPAIR! MOST AMERICANS DO NOT AGREE WITH OUR PRESIDENT

… “March For Truth” protestors demand the truth from the president, or he should quit

 

Back in June, 2016, protestors demanded an investigation for the truth on Trump’s Russia connections.

 

One of the negatives of having Donald Trump as president is that when your elected leader is an openly racist, misogynistic, self-absorbed billionaire, the rest of the world tends to assume he is a reflection of the real American public.

 

Fortunately, the Public Religion Research Institute’s (PRRI) annual poll had some good news that shows that the United States is still a welcoming nation.

 

As I said, one of the most depressing aspects of the Trump era has been a sense that the rest of the world had assumed that the United States had become less tolerant, empathetic and generous under the influence of President Donald Trump, and the extreme Republican party that has embraced him.

What the PRRI did was to poll a large cross section of Americans and they found some good news about what Americans think about issues such as sexual harassment in the work place, immigration, Trump’s ban on Muslims, about “The Wall” on the southern border, and those DACA childen, brought to the US by their parents.

 

There were even question about Trump’s “America First” idea, and whether the US should be pulling out of all these programs such as the Paris Climate accord, the Trans Pacific Partnership, and even should we be moving our Embassy to Jerusalem?   (The answer is “no”.)

 

Here are just some of the  PRRI’s polling results:

 

SEXUAL HARRASSMENT:

A large majority of Americans understand the scourge of sexual harassment against women. “Seven in ten (70%) of Americans say that recent stories about women being sexually harassed and assaulted in the workplace are part of a broader pattern of how women are often treated.  One-quarter (only 24%) say that these are isolated incidents.” Nevertheless, the partisan gap is worrisome. “More than seven in ten Democrats (77%) and independents (73%) say these stories reflect a broader pattern. Roughly six in ten (59%) Republicans agree.” So we can score a positive for the understanding of the isues of many women in the workplace.

 

IMMIGRATION / DACA:

Most Americans have departed from Trump and his hard-line supporters: “More than seven in ten (72%) Americans, including 63% of Republicans and 81% of Democrats, favor allowing illegal immigrants brought to the US as children to gain legal resident status if they join the military or go to college. Support for this policy has increased substantially from 57% in 2011.”

 

BAN ON REFUGEES:

Most Americans don’t like a ban on refugees. “Nearly six in ten (59%) Americans oppose the passage of a law that prevents refugees from entering the US, while one-third (36%) favor this type of restriction. Opposition to a refugee ban spans racial and ethnic categories. A majority of white (57%), Hispanic (57%), and black Americans (71%) oppose passing a law to prevent refugees from entering the US.”

 

THE SOUTHERN BORDER WALL:

Public sentiment is against building a wall along the US-Mexico border. “More than six in ten (63%) Americans oppose the construction of a wall along the border, while about one-third (36%) support it.”  Opposition to building a border wall has increased five percentage points, up from 58%.  The number of those who "strongly oppose" it has also risen, from 34% last year to 42% today.

 

AMERICA FIRST:

Americans are much less willing to cut ourselves off from the rest of the world than Trump’s rhetoric would suggest. “More than six in ten (63%) Americans are in favor of promoting free trade, while about three in ten (29%) say the US should place more restrictions on foreign trade,” the report says. “There is little appetite for trade restrictions among most demographic groups.”  But many Americans are learning that most do not agree with pulling out of the Paris Accord, also that by getting out of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) we are just allowing China to take the lead in South East Asia.  This is a very important future trading area that as of Trump’s decision, the US just sits back and watches the Chinese take charge, as they are also doing in expanding their businesses in Africa.

 

The point is that we need to understand that most Americans do not believe in what Trump is trying to do to this great nation.  That is why at 34%, he has the lowest approval rating of any president after less than one year in office.

 

There is hope out there from those Americans that do not only watch Fox News.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017