March, 2017, Part 2, By The Numbers: Americans Trust Trump, Americans Do Not Trust Washington, Americans Do Not Trust The Mainstream Media and More

On a periodic basis we do some posts that fall under the theme of “by the numbers.” Rather than trust what the American political tells us about reality, we like to examine the real numbers and the real reality in the world to understand what is actually going on. Relying on politicians, and their cohorts in the media, to tell us what is reality is always a sucker bet. They have their own agendas and goals, usually centering around their needs and self-enrichment. So we need to look at the reality of the numbers to determine what is really going on.

Previous analyses of “by the numbers” can be accessed by entering the phrase in the search box above. This is the third and final post this month where we look at the numbers to truly find out how good, not likely, or bad, most likely, the American political class is doing in managing our tax dollars, protecting our freedoms, and resolving major issues that affect all of us. 

This latest set of by the numbers will focus on what Americans think, feel, and want done in Washington and elsewhere within the political class. We will show that many times what politicians are doing and what the mainstream media is reporting and harping on could not be further away from what Americans want done. Our main set of numbers will come from reputable poll taking organizations whose reputations and future rely on conducting and reporting on opinions and trends in an unbiased manner, something that most mainstream media outlets no longer feel they need to do.

1) We have often pointed out how inept and incompetent Washington politicians are. Despite running up a $20 TRILLION national debt, our country’s infrastructure is still crumbling, our public schools still under educate our kids, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are still hurtling towards fiscal insolvency, we still are fighting a lost “war on drugs, and we have no national strategy for energy. 

And according to some numbers, it is perhaps time that Americans are getting totally fed up with Washington, as reported by the Convention of States website and Frank Lutz reporting on www.time.com:

• A poll at the recent National Governors Association found that Americans are not optimistic that dysfunctional Washington can be trusted to resolve any of the main issues facing the country.
• When asked, 71% of those Americans polled said that the states, not the Federal government, are better at problem solving, when asked “Overall, which level of government do you believe is doing a better job of serving its citizens and delivering results?” 
• Only 29% said the Feds were better qualified than state governments.
• 82% of Republicans polled said state governments are better qualified, 77% of Independents said state governments were better qualified, and even a majority of Democrats, 54%, said states were better qualified.

It is rare when Republicans, Independents, and Democrats agree on an issue so you know that this is truly an American public wish, that the Federal government get out of our lives and let someone else try to resolve issues that the Feds have been unable to solve for decades and decades. The numbers are overwhelming.

2) The mainstream media would like us to believe that Donald Trump is a nut case, way out of touch with what Americans feel and what the country needs. Their disdain and lack of respect for him goes way back to the early days of his campaign for President. The mainstream media seems to go out it’s way to blow up fake and minor Trump issues while having given a Obama a free pass on far more serious issues over the past eight years (e.g. Fast and Furious, using the IRS as a political tool and terror organization, the major screw ups in Syria and Libya, the massive failure of Obamacare, etc.).

So after a very long time of Trump and the mainstream butting heads and making accusations against each other, who does American trust more:

• According to reporting on the US Chronicle website, a survey done by Emerson College found that Americans trust Trump over the mainstream media by a 10-point margin.
• Trump and his associates were found truthful by 49% of those polled vs. only 39% who found the mainstream media to be truthful.
• 48% found Trump and his associates to be untruthful while 53% found the mainstream media to be untruthful.
• This is consistent with the latest 2016 Gallup poll on this topic which found that just 32% of Americans relied on the media to report the news and current events in an accurate, fair, and objective manner, an all time low.
• Results across the political spectrum vary widely with Republicans trusting Trump much more than the mainstream media and Democrats trusting the mainstream media more than Trump.

Overall, though, Americans trust Trump more than the mainstream media, the exact opposite of what the mainstream media thinks about itself.

3) Democrats like to portray themselves as the most compassionate people in the country, wanting to protect illegal immigrants, even criminal illegal immigrants, by creating so-called “sanctuary cities,” cities where local politicians protect illegal immigrants, even criminal ones, from existing Federal immigration laws and penalties. Democrats and liberals feel they are in the right relative to this issue and others that disagree with them are heartless bums.

But Democrats and liberals need to look at some recent polling numbers which may show that people want justice and the enforcement of current law, putting liberals and Democrats in a distinct minority:

• According to reporting by Jonathan Easley, writing for the The Hill website on February 21, 2017, a recent opinion poll shows that Americans overwhelmingly oppose sanctuary cities.
• The Harvard-Harris poll reported that 80% of those questioned say that local politicians and authorities should have to comply with existing law by reporting to Federal immigration agents any illegal immigrants they should come in contact with.
• Which means that Trump has unprecedented public opinion support to actually enforce existing laws and cracking down on sanctuary cities, cities that Reuters reported receive $2.27 billion in Federal funding, funding that Trump could cut and the public would apparently support.
• 77% of those polled want an overhaul of the country’s immigration laws, indicating that they least respect the rule of law even if liberals and Democrats do not: “While there is broad support for comprehensive immigration reform, there is overwhelming opposition to sanctuary cities. The public wants honest immigrants treated fairly and those who commit crimes deported and that's very clear from the data.”
• But Americans also support other Trump immigration initiatives with 52% supporting Trump’s executive orders for building a southern border wall, 75% support increasing the number of immigration agents, and 53% support Trump’s plan to temporarily restrict refugees coming from terrorist infested countries.
• 47% of those surveyed felt that allowing refugees from terror infested countries has a negative impact on the country while only 33% think it has a positive effect, again supporting a position for Trump’s temporary ban.
• When those being polled are told that the U.S. is slated to receive 100,000 Syrian refugees, 51% said that number should be lower, 34% feel it is about right, and 15% said the U.S. should allow more.
• According to the managers of the survey: “Americans support both comprehensive immigration reform and stronger vetting and reduced refugees — they want a mix of compassion, strong borders. They see ISIS as the greatest threat to the country and that is spurring concerns about refugee migration.”

Americans want common sense solutions to all issues including immigration. Democrats and liberals would rather fight to protect illegal immigration activities and screw the rule of law rather than work with Trump to create that common sense solution, which the numbers show is what Americans want. 

So what did the numbers tell us today: liberals and Democrats are out of touch with Americans when it comes to immigration, Americans trust Trump more than the mainstream media, and Americans trust their state governments much more than they trust Washington. More numbers tomorrow.

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http://www.reason.com
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http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w