Wednesday, July 4, 2018

The Incivility War

An near-unanimous majority of Americans agree that the US has a serious political incivility problem, but we're still rather split on whose fault that is, the GOP or the Dems.

More voters blame President Trump than Democrats for the lack of civility in politics, according to a new Quinnipiac poll.

The survey found that 91 percent of Americans say the lack of civility in politics is a serious problem, with 47 percent of respondents saying Trump is responsible for that. Thirty-seven percent pointed the finger at Democrats.

Additionally, 55 percent of adults said Trump's rhetoric has emboldened people who hold racist views to publicly express those beliefs.

The poll was conducted June 27–July 1 among a group of 1,020 voters. It has a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.

The good news, I guess, is that Americans do seem to agree that Trump is a serious problem across the board.

American voters disapprove 55 - 40 percent of the job President Trump is doing, compared to a 52 - 43 percent disapproval rating in a June 20 Quinnipiac University National Poll and reversing a trend which showed Trump's net approval inching up.

The president gets negative grades on most character traits:
  • 58 - 38 percent say he is not honest;
  • 55 - 43 percent say he does not have good leadership skills;
  • 55 - 43 percent say he does not care about average Americans;
  • 62 - 34 percent say he is not level-headed;
  • 63 - 32 percent say he is a strong person;
  • 57 - 39 say he is intelligent;
  • 60 - 37 percent say he does not share their values;
  • 62 - 36 percent say he does not provide the U.S. with moral leadership.

But this still won't be enough to motivate people to vote against him, I suspect.  Tens of millions of us long ago made peace with the fact that a screaming racist as president wasn't a dealbreaker as long as people got what they wanted out of him policy-wise. 

Something to remember on this July 4th.

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