Inside the Beltway: Just 29% of voters agree with Democratic investigation of Trump

NEWS AND OPINION:

Opinion polls consistently reveal that voters are weary of negative politics and a gridlocked Congress. That’s been a given for years. But wait. This week, they also do not appear to approve of the incoming Democratic investigation of President Trump and his administration. A single question explains all:

“If the Mueller probe fails to find proof that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government, should congressional Democrats do their own investigation, or should they move on to other issues?” asks a new Rasmussen Reports survey.

“So far the facts aren’t there, but Democrats remain convinced that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians to win the presidency. Most voters in general, however, say if Special Counsel Robert Mueller can’t prove it, Democrats should let it go,” says the poll of 1,000 registered U.S. voters.

“Just 29 percent of all likely U.S. voters think congressional Democrats should do their own investigation if the Mueller probe fails to find proof that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government. Sixty-four percent say Democrats in Congress should move on to other issues instead.”

Meanwhile, a new Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday reveals that 59 percent of voters say Congress should not begin impeachment proceedings against Mr. Trump.

And that is the political climate at this juncture.

THE IMPEACHMENT PRESS

Nothing like headlines to gauge the media mood regarding the aforementioned investigation. Here are just a few from the last 48 hours:

“Democrats are set to take a big step toward impeaching Trump” (The Washington Post; “Democrats just took their first baby steps toward impeaching Trump” (CNN); “House Democrats are going on a Trump fishing expedition” (The Los Angeles Times); “Dems sink teeth into Trump” (The Hill); “Trump calls Democrats ’stone cold crazy’ as probes pile up” (The New York Post); “President says he’ll cooperate with Democrats’ ’hoax’ investigation” (MarketWatch); “Democrat Nadler and Trump: From New York feud to Russia probe” (Yahoo News). “Democrats’ demand for Trump tax returns expected in about two weeks” (Politico).

’THE CASE FOR TRUMP’ ARRIVES

Now on the bookshelves, it’s “The Case for Trump” by author and historian Victor Davis Hanson.

“Trump is not just a political phenomenon. His person dominates the news, the popular culture, and the world’s attention. About Trump, no one is neutral, no one is calm. All agree that Trump meant to do something big, either undoing the last half century of American progressivism, or sparking a cultural and political renaissance like no other president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, or crashing the traditional American political establishment and its norms altogether. All knew he was no Bush, no Clinton, no Obama,” Mr. Hanson writes.

“My aim in ’The Case for Trump’ is to explain why he ran for president, why he surprised his critics in winning the 2016 Republican primaries and general election, and why, despite media frenzy and the nonstop Twitter bombast, Trump’s appointments and his record of governance have improved the economy, found a rare mean between an interventionalist foreign policy and isolationism, and taken on a toxic establishment and political culture that long ago needed an accounting,” the author notes.

The book — which weighs in at 400 pages — has been published by Basic Books and is already in the top-10 most popular offerings at Amazon.

BROADCASTERS IGNORE TRUMP TRIUMPHS

The big three networks — CBS, NBC and ABC — have ignored President Trump’s triumphs related to the economy and job creation in the last 15 months. Two studies conducted by the Media Research Center examined 45 evening newscasts which covered Bureau of Labor statistics updates from Dec. 8, 2017, to Feb. 1, 2019. Good news about Mr. Trump was very scarce.

“In the past 15 months of their coverage of regular jobs reports, the networks almost never gave Trump any credit for that economic success. Stories sometimes mentioned that he was taking credit or celebrating good jobs news. But out of 45 broadcasts the night of monthly jobs reporting, there was just one network story about jobs that gave Trump any credit at all — they refused to credit him nearly 98 percent of the time,” wrote analyst Julia Seymour, who led the research for the conservative press watchdog.

News about record low unemployment among blacks and Hispanics was also overlooked.

“Job growth under President Trump and the booming labor market helped narrow the unemployment gap for prominent minority groups. The networks didn’t bother reporting it 95 percent of the time. Just one story acknowledged any of the record lows. That CBS Evening News report on June 1, 2018, indicated that the unemployment rate for African-Americans dropped to an ’all-time’ low of 5.9 percent. It still failed to note that Asian-American unemployment also declined to a record low of 2.1 percent that month. No network reported the four record lows for Hispanic unemployment,” Ms. Seymour said.

FOXIFIED

Fox News Channel remains the most-watched cable network of all according to Nielsen Media Research, besting non-news rivals such as HGTV, USA Network and the History Channel. As it has for over 17 years, Fox News also continues to top news rivals, garnering 2.5 million prime-time viewers compared to 2 million for MSNBC and 1.2 million for CNN. Fox News’ special coverage of President Trump’s visit to North Korea also won the ratings race with 3.4 million viewers.

Fox Business Network also continues to dominate rival CNBC with consistent ratings advantages of between 5 percent and 7 percent. Fox Business also has aired the highest rated programs in business TV — “Lou Dobbs Tonight” and “Varney & Co.” — for the ninth consecutive week.

POLL DU JOUR

• 56 percent of Americans approve of how President Trump handles the economy; 93 percent of Republicans, 53 percent of independents and 6 percent of Democrats agree.

• 54 percent approve of how he handles unemployment; 90 percent of Republicans, 56 percent of independents and 21 percent of Democrats agree.

• 51 percent approve of how he deals with North Korea; 88 percent of Republicans, 46 percent of independents and 17 percent of Democrats agree.

• 50 percent approve of how he handles national defense; 91 percent of Republicans, 48 percent of independents and 14 percent of Democrats agree.

• 43 percent approve of the job Mr. Trump does overall; 90 percent of Republicans, 35 percent of independents and 6 percent of Democrats agree.

Source: A Gallup poll of 1,932 U.S. adults conducted Feb. 12-28.

• Kindly follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin