OPINION:
A widely reported poll from Fox News puts national favor for an impeachment of President Donald Trump at 51%.
But this same poll then asks participants to name their favorite among a list of people — to express either favorable or unfavorable opinion of each — and guess who wins in a field of nine? Curiosity of all curiosities: Trump.
So the takeaway message from this poll is we love ya, Trump — but ya gotta go?
Odd. Schizophrenic even.
But here’s a clue to the mindset of these polled individuals.
Question No. 3 states: “I’m going to read you the names of several individuals and groups. Please tell me whether you have a generally favorable or unfavorable opinion of each one. If you’ve never heard of one please just say so.”
Topping the list with a favorability rating of 49% was “The Democratic Party.”
Trump was second, at 43%. And the rest of the field went this way: Nancy Pelosi, 43%; Hillary Clinton, 41%; Mike Pence, 40%; The Republican Party, 40%; Rudy Giuliani, 31%; Adam Schiff, 27%; Mitch McConnell, 26%; and William Barr, 24%.
So among the field of nine, Trump led. Add in the Democratic Party, and Trump’s second.
Either the poll’s a bit politically slanted or — well, not or. It is what it is. The margin of error for subgroups section sheds a bit more light. The poll was conducted by landline and cellphone interviews of 1,003 registered voters, between Oct. 6 and Oct. 8, with an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
But the margin of error for blacks and Hispanics was plus or minus 9 percentage points. The margins of error for non-white men and non-white women were plus or minus 8.5 percentage points and 7.5 percentage points, respectively.
And on the question “Do you think President Trump should be impeached and removed from office, or not?” — it was the black, Hispanic, and non-white subgroups who delivered the most decided yays.
Fully 76% of black said yes, impeach; along with 64% of Hispanics and 70% of non-whites. Typical Democratic Party voting blocks; typical Democratic Party supporters.
Meanwhile, in yet another show of inconsistency, only 38% of all participants said the economy was getting better, versus 37% who said it was growing worse. At the same time, in a separate question, 72% said they were either very or somewhat confident about their own personal financial future.
How’s that work, in an economy that’s supposedly growing worse?
Schizophrenia.
All over the map.
All over the board.
Perhaps the public is truly sick of Trump and wants to see him impeached. But then again: maybe not. After all, in terms of favor, Trump is far ahead of those who are actively working to impeach him.
According to the numbers from this poll — from the actual poll, not the news reports about the poll — it looks like the public would actually rather see Pelosi and Schiff gone, than Trump. And once again, they still hate Hillary.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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