Politico: Democratic poll: Trump voters don’t want Mueller firing
Democratic poll: Trump voters don’t want Mueller firing
August 2, 2017
By Kevin Robillard
A leading Democratic super PAC is out with new polling data warning President Donald Trump not to take drastic action in either the investigation into his campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia or in the health care debate, arguing either move could alienate even his base voters.
Just 10 percent of voters think Trump should fire former FBI Director Robert Mueller, the special counsel assigned to the investigation, according to a new poll from Priorities USA, while 80 percent of voters think Mueller should be allowed to finish his investigation. A large majority of Trump voters — 65 percent — believe Mueller should be allowed to finish his investigation. Sixty-one percent of voters say Congress should pass a law to reappoint Mueller if Trump does fire him.
Directing deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein to fire Mueller could potentially spark a constitutional crisis, and some Republican lawmakers have warned Trump against such a move. The president has openly mulled firing Mueller, arguing he and his team are biased against him.
The poll also found 71 percent of voters would oppose Trump pardoning himself or members of family, while 19 percent would support such a move.
“Democrats should feel empowered to draw a clear line in the sand, warning that any firing of Mueller would represent an abuse of Trump’s power that would be greeted with real consequences,” the pollsters from Garin-Hart-Yang and Global Strategy Group write in a polilng memo. Some congressional Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham are already promising legislation guarding against the possibility of a Mueller firing; this further bolsters Democrats’ position if a constitutional crisis should arise.”
Meanwhile, three-quarters of voters, including 64 percent of Trump voters, agreed with messaging saying Republicans and the president “have a responsibility to implement and improve the Affordable Care Act.” Only 16 percent of voters disagreed. Fifty-six percent of voters said Trump’s stated plan to let Obamacare fail makes them feel less favorably about him, while 32 percent said it made them feel more favorable.
Trump has suggested he may withhold payments to insurers in the Obamacare exchanges, which would cause premiums to skyrocket.
“On health care, Trump’s threats to withhold insurer payments should be cast as nothing less than sabotage of the insurance markets that would directly lead to premium hikes,” the pollsters said. “On Russia, it is important to stress the need to allow the investigation to run its course without political interference, as well as the bipartisan support for legislation to reappoint Mueller even if Trump were to try to get rid of him.”
Global Strategy Group and Garin Hart Yang Research Group conducted the poll of 1,013 presidential year voters from July 24th to July 27th. The survey results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.