RUTHFULLY YOURS

President Trump entered the White House for the second time with a bold agenda, which included a spate of executive orders on a wide range of issues. Even the media had trouble keeping up with the changes. But how was Trump’s flurry of orders received by average Americans? They liked it, with the exception of Democrats, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows.

The online I&I/TIPP Poll queried 1,478 adults across the nation on their view of 12 key Trump executive orders, intended to kick-start his second term in office and set a new direction for U.S. policy. The poll has a margin of error of +/-2.6 percentage points.

The question posed was “Do you support or oppose the following executive orders signed by President Donald Trump in his first week in office?” Each question was followed by a description of Trump’s action, with those answering having a choice among the following responses: “Support strongly,” “Support somewhat,” “Oppose somewhat,” “Oppose strongly,” and

Even amid Democrats’ strong doubts, four of the 12 issues managed to receive solid majorities in support.

They included: “Deploy the U.S. military to secure the southern border,” receiving 57% “support,” 33% “oppose; “Ban federal funding for gender identity programs and recognize only biological sex,” 53% support, 36% oppose; “Require federal workers to return to the office full-time,” 56% support, 30% oppose; and “Speed up deportation of illegal immigrants,” 54% support, 35% oppose.

A handful of other Trump moves garnered pluralities, but not absolute majorities.

This group included “End birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens,” 49% support, 41% oppose; “Declare a national energy emergency to boost oil and gas production, while excluding wind and solar energy,” 46% support, 39% oppose; “Eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal government,” 45% support, 42% oppose; “Make it easier to fire federal workers by removing job protections,” 44% support, 42% oppose; and “Pause for 75 days on a law banning TikTok,” 44% support, 31% oppose.

Just three issues had more “oppose” than “support” responses: “Withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO),” support 38%, oppose 46%; “Pardon individuals imprisoned for their involvement in January 6,” 37% support, 51% oppose (the only “oppose” response garnering over 50%); and a squeaker, “Withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement,” 39% support, 41% oppose, but a virtual tie within the margin of error.

But a look at responses by party affiliation shows just how far apart the major parties are at the onset of the new Trump administration.

For instance, Democrats showed little backing for the Trump agenda. On average, over all 12 responses, Democrat support for Trump’s actions averaged just 26.5%, while opposition averaged 61.8%.

Further in the “Republicans are from Mars, Democrats are from Venus” category, the responses of support for individual policies from GOP party members were all over 60%, averaging 71.4%. Meanwhile, Republican opposition was a feeble 16.3%.

How about independent and third-party voters, a growing part of the electorate, which many polling experts consider the defacto “party of the middle”? Their average “support” response came in at 42.9%, while “oppose” garnered 40.8%.

What do all these numbers mean? Trump has fairly broad support for his initial executive orders, but that support shrinks markedly as you move left on the spectrum from the Republican side.

But, even accounting for those political differences, a big reason why Trump’s overall support for his agenda remains solid is that there appears to have been a marked political shift to the right among the electorate this election.

“More than anything else, President-elect Donald Trump appears to have won the 2024 presidential election because of a uniform swing against the Democratic Party,” the 538 polling website wrote recently. “According to our analysis of final vote totals in almost every county, about 53% of the variation in the change in Democratic support from 2020 to 2024 can be explained by the country’s overall rightward swing.”

In an era of sharp political divisions, this perhaps explains the growing popularity of presidential executive orders, such as those Trump signed. They underscore people’s desire for immediate change. Under a president’s presumed role as head of the executive branch, he or she has broad leeway in changing executive branch policies, usually without a congressional vote.

If the previous president put a policy in via executive order, the succeeding president can reverse it, which is exactly what both President Biden and President Trump have done. Again, by using executive orders.

I&II/TIPP’s poll confirms what other pollsters are also discovering: Trump’s flood of orders is satisfying average voters’ demand for action from the new administration.

“It’s been a challenge keeping up with President Trump’s blizzard of executive orders and other actions, but the public response has been generally positive,” pollster Scott Rasmussen told the Washington Examiner.

Even Trump’s non-admirers in the media are agog. As Paul Rosenzweig wrote in the Atlantic, under the headline, “It’s Not Amateur Hour Anymore”:

The first 10 days of Donald Trump’s presidency have seen such an onslaught of executive orders and implementing actions that Steve Bannon’s strategy to flood the zone with shit seems apt. But that characterization is incomplete, and it obscures a more frightening truth: The Trump administration’s actions have been not just voluminous but efficient and effective. Though Trump himself may not appreciate the depth of detail that has gone into these early days, his allies do appear to understand what they are doing, and they seem to have his unquestioning consent to do whatever they like.

But beyond the audaciousness of Trump’s political moves, the I&I/TIPP data suggest something more profound: a country moving to the right and center as it emerges from the COVID lockdown-era’s years of wild federal spending, cancel culture, “woke” education, open borders, rising crime rates, and federally-mandated social policy experimentation, such as DEI.

Even NPR, which potentially faces an end to its federal support under Trump, has been impressed.

“President Trump promised to do a lot right from the start if elected, and he certainly did that,” NPR wrote. “During his first week in office, Trump signed dozens of executive orders affecting everything from immigration, climate change and oil exploration to health and medical research, as well as eliminating federal diversity programs, directives defining gender and much, much more.”

Pretty much dead on. And there’s more to come.