I found this poll interesting. It shows that the public views both parties in Congress as being a problem for Donald Trump. About 37% say his biggest problem is the congressional GOP, while about 42% see his biggest problem as the congressional Democrats. That's only a five point difference.How does Trump fix this problem? About 58% said he needs to reach out to congressional Democrats to get his agenda accomplished, while 29% thought he should just count on help from congressional Republicans.
I can understand the public's wish for Trump to reach out to Democrats. They don't like the partisan nature of today's Washington politics, and most believe the two parties should compromise for the good of the country.
But Trump's policies (his agenda) was designed to appeal to his teabagger base. That agenda (which includes building a border wall, banning muslims, cutting taxes for the rich and corporations, cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits, keeping the minimum wage at its current unlivable level, deregulating Wall Street and financial firms, allowing more pollution by corporations and energy producers, and deeply cutting most domestic programs) is not something the Democrats can compromise on.
All of those policies are anathema to Democratic beliefs, and any Democrat who gives in to Trump on any of those issues would be crucified by Democratic voters in the next election. Trump would not just have to soften his stance on those issues to reach out to Democrats -- he would have to do a 180 degree turn on them (and that would anger his teabagger base in the Republican Party).
Trump is between a rock and a hard place, and he has put himself there without any help from either party. He will continue to have problems with his own party in Congress, but any thought of Democrats coming to his rescue is just nonsense.
These charts reflect information in a new Rasmussen Poll -- done between March 30th and April 2nd of a random national sample of 1,000 likely voters, with a 3 point margin of error.
