U.S. President Donald Trump observes after presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom for Celtics basketball legend Bob Cousy at the White House Oval Office in Washington, DC on August 22, 2019.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
A CNBC poll conducted days before the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump found that a large proportion of Republicans want him to remain ahead of his party, but most Americans want him out of politics.
The CNBC All-America Economic Survey shows that 54% of Americans want Trump to “deviate entirely from politics”. That was the sentiment of 81% of Democrats and 47% of independents, but only 26% of Republicans.
When it comes to Republicans, 74% want him to remain active in some way, including 48% who want him to remain head of the Republican Party, 11% who want him to start a third party and 12% who say he should stay active in politics, but not as head of any party.
“If we are talking about Donald Trump’s future at the moment, the research shows that he still has strong central support within his own party, which really wants him to remain its leader,” said Jay Campbell, partner at Hart Research and the Democratic researcher for research.
But Micah Roberts, the Republican research researcher and partner of Public Opinion Strategies, has emphasized the change since Trump was president. Pre-election polls regularly showed Trump with Republican Party approval ratings of around 90%, meaning that at least some Republicans have defected from Trump.
The online survey of 1,000 Americans across the country has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5%. It was conducted from 2 to 7 February, before Trump’s Senate trial for insurrection and fomenting the January 6 riots on Capitol Hill. In the unlikely conviction case, Trump could be prevented by the Senate from taking federal public office again.
The research shows that Trump maintains strong support among Americans without a college degree, a demographic group important to the Republican Party: 89% of the group wants him to remain in politics, including 52% who want him to remain as head of the Republican Party. That is the highest percentage of any group, and a potential warning sign for Republican Party leaders if they decide to vote to condemn Trump.