Kelly and Dave are in a bit of a pickle here. Because Republican voters are all in with Trump.
Republican Trump voters are more likely to identify with the president than their political party, a new survey finds.
GOP voters remain far likelier to align themselves with President Donald Trump than they are to side with other Republicans, a new HuffPost/YouGov survey shows.
In the case of a disagreement between Trump and Republicans in Congress, 52% of Republican and Republican-leaning independent voters say they’d be more likely to support Trump, according to the poll, conducted Dec. 15 through Sunday. Only 15% say they would side with the GOP legislators, with the rest saying they’d back neither or that they’re not sure.
Similarly, 62% say they would back Trump over their own representative, and just 14% say they would support the latter.
The results reflect, at most, a modest erosion in Trump’s base support since he lost his bid for reelection. In an August HuffPost/YouGov survey, 61% of GOP voters said they would back Trump over congressional Republicans, and about two-thirds had said that they’d back him over their district’s representative.
The questions are broad hypotheticals, designed to gauge levels of intraparty loyalty rather than precise reactions to any particular issue. But such a disagreement is currently brewing: On Tuesday, Trump threatened to veto the coronavirus relief bill passed by Congress, calling for an increase in the size of direct stimulus checks ― something Democratic legislators have also supported.
Trump also lashed out against GOP legislators, including South Dakota Sen. John Thune, who shot down the idea that Republicans in the Senate could challenge Trump’s electoral loss.
“Republicans in the Senate so quickly forget,” Trump tweeted. “Right now they would be down 8 seats without my backing them in the last Election.”
Just 18% of Republican and Republican-leaning independents say they believe that almost all congressional Republicans support Trump, down from 27% who said the same in August. A 65% majority of those voters say most congressional Republicans back the outgoing president. That’s down from 78% in the summer, but still considerably above what it was in 2017, when only about half of Trump’s voters thought he had the support of most party legislators.
A 42% plurality of Republican and Republican-leaning independents who voted for Trump in this year’s presidential election say they consider themselves more supporters of Trump than of the Republican Party. Just 21% feel that they are more supporters of the party, with another 31% saying they are supporters of both.
Hating on RINOs is nothing new. In fact, it’s been a surefire money maker for conservative movement types for decades and it probably will be again. But they are going to have to give Trumpie a a taste. A big one. It’s his party now.
I’ve always been flummoxed as to why anyone would admire a wealthy, privileged, powerful white man who whines and blubbers more than a 3 year old. It just escapes me. But now that he has turned himself from a presidential candidate who lost an election — something happens every four years to someone — into the biggers sore loser in world history, I find it completely inexplicable. Who likes that?
Loeffler and Perdue are between a rock and a hard place. They were bragging about voting for the COVID relief bill just yesterday. Will they change their minds now that Dear Leader has weighed in? And can they afford to lose any Republican voters over this?
Trump doesn’t have a plan. He’s just flailing around trying to figure out a way to change the reality that he’s the biggest sore loser in history. But there are possible ramifications for the GOP in doing this. Not that he cares. But they do.
It’s Happy Hollandaise time. If you’re of a mind to drop something in the old Hullabaloo Christmas stocking, you can do so below.
cheers,
digby