# WaPo Poll on Helsinki Summit Reveals Size of Always Trumpers **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 23, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474 "2018-07-23T20:33:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/1 "2018-07-23T20:33:15Z")
[A Washington Post/ABC News poll released July 22](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/americans-give-trump-negative-marks-for-helsinki-performance/2018/07/22/832ec2be-8d19-11e8-a345-a1bf7847b375_story.html?utm_term=.62f69b29a42b) shares some numbers that I think demonstrate those Americans who will be “always Trumpers”. > [@](#): > > The Post-ABC poll conducted Wednesday through Friday finds that overall, 33 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of his meeting with Putin while 50 percent disapprove. A shockingly high 33% of Americans will apparently follow him no matter what. Then there are these yahoos: > [@](#): > > A sizable 18 percent say they have no opinion. How does anyone have “no opinion” at this point? Not surprisingly, when you slice numbers by party affiliation Republicans more strongly favor Trump and Democrats the opposite. For example, > [@](#): > > Despite Republicans’ lukewarm support for Trump’s Helsinki performance, they express growing confidence in his ability to project U.S. strength around the world. A 74 percent majority of Republicans say American leadership has “gotten stronger” under Trump, up from 53 percent last November and 61 percent in July 2017. By contrast, 80 percent of Democrats say Trump has weakened U.S. leadership around the world. 33% is higher than I’d expected for the “always Trumpers”, but it’s good to have it quantified. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/2 "2018-07-23T21:01:16Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > How does anyone have “no opinion” at this point? I’ve been on a combination of work and personal travel since late June and am still catching up on all the news. I’m 99% sure my opinion will be negative but I can’t have one grounded in the actual facts of the meeting until I’m caught up. And I imagine more than 18% doesn’t even read a newspaper or watch TV news, so I’m surprised the number isn’t higher. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/3 "2018-07-23T21:33:57Z")
I would suspect that the 33% found by that poll to support Trump over his “handling” (ha!) of the Helsinki meeting, would be found to coincide almost exactly with the percentage of Americans who would score as ‘white and anxious about racial/ethnic makeup of the US population’ (or similar measure). In other words, Trump’s corruption and misconduct—even his blatant show of servility toward Putin—can and will always be explained away by that 33%, so long as Trump continues to persecute non-whites (through Sessions and Homeland Security, mainly) and say mean things about black people on Twitter. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/4 "2018-07-23T21:34:06Z")
every president is going to have hard core backers no matter what he does. 33% sounds about right for hard core guys/gals. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/5 "2018-07-23T21:41:18Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > every president is going to have hard core backers no matter what he does. 33% sounds about right for hard core guys/gals. As Tom Clancy wrote in one of his novels (might have been Executive Orders): You can be running against Adolf Hitler, the two of you each being backed by one of the main political parties of the US, and Hitler will still get about 40% of the vote just by virtue of being one of the two parties’ nominee. Not saying Trump is Hitler, but a president will have a certain fraction of the electorate baked in as his support. Even Nixon had an approval rating of around 20% when he resigned post Watergate, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/6 "2018-07-23T21:49:10Z")
David Duke a KKK/Nazi guy got 43% running for senate in Louisiana. and he was elected to a state house seat before that. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/7 "2018-07-23T21:49:38Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > every president is going to have hard core backers no matter what he does. 33% sounds about right for hard core guys/gals. Nixon maintained an [overall approval rating](https://historyinpieces.com/research/nixon-approval-ratings) in the mid 20s throughout 1974, which was probably his hardest-core base. Trump’s [overall approval rating](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/?ex_cid=rrpromo) (not just approval of the summit) really hasn’t ever dipped below the mid 30s, and at this point, I don’t know that there’s _anything_ that’s going to shake that 35-ish percent away from him. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/8 "2018-07-24T15:21:06Z")
Trump’s current own-party approval rating (88%, [cite](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trumps-approval-rating-reaches-record-high-in-poll-powered-by-republican-support)) is the second highest of any president (first being W after 9/11 [cite](https://townhall.com/tipsheet/timothymeads/2018/06/03/president-trump-has-second-highest-own-party-approval-rating-at-500-day-mark-n2486936)). ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/9 "2018-07-24T16:08:59Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > Trump’s current own-party approval rating (88%, [cite](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trumps-approval-rating-reaches-record-high-in-poll-powered-by-republican-support)) To be perfectly clear, [that figure is a combination of “strongly approve” (64%) and “somewhat approve” (24%)](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/nbc-wsj-poll-public-gives-trump-thumbs-down-russia-thumbs-n893266?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_ma). ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/10 "2018-07-24T16:13:37Z")
The hard core ATers are an odd lot. I’m convinced they’re as much a personality cult as the Jim Jones group in Guyana. They cannot be reasoned with, there is no evidence that would convince them of anything, they must be outvoted. Fortunately, their numbers should drop. They’re disproportionately old. The Grim Reaper will collect more of them than what are added to their ranks. The anti-Donald coalition will only get bigger and more energized. At least that’s what has to happen for democracy to survive in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/11 "2018-07-24T18:07:03Z")
Those ‘yahoo’s’ with no opinion will contain a substantial number of folk who are politely telling the pollster to mind their own business. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/12 "2018-07-24T18:35:07Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](#): > > Those ‘yahoo’s’ with no opinion will contain a substantial number of folk who are politely telling the pollster to mind their own business. “Why yes, ma’am, I’d love to do a fifteen-minute poll with you! Please ask me your questions, and I’ll say ‘no opinion’ as a way of telling you to mind your own business!” I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/13 "2018-07-24T18:53:28Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > “Why yes, ma’am, I’d love to do a fifteen-minute poll with you! Please ask me your questions, and I’ll say ‘no opinion’ as a way of telling you to mind your own business!” > > I don’t think so. Sorry, my scenario is undoubtedly true. Many people saying ‘no opinion’ to a question do in fact have an opinion on that question; they just don’t wish to publicly answer it. I can’t tell you if it’s 10% of the individuals answering no opinion or 90%, but a number will have a private opinion to the question. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/14 "2018-07-24T19:05:10Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](#): > > Sorry, my scenario is undoubtedly true. Many people saying ‘no opinion’ to a question do in fact have an opinion on that question; they just don’t wish to publicly answer it. I can’t tell you if it’s 10% of the individuals answering no opinion or 90%, but a number will have a private opinion to the question. “A number”? I can’t argue with that. Zero, after all, is “a number.” My hunch is that the number of people that agree to go through all the questions of a political poll, but then decide to “no opinion” on matters they have strong opinions about, is minuscule. I am, of course, open to evidence to the contrary. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/15 "2018-07-24T19:58:29Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > “A number”? I can’t argue with that. Zero, after all, is “a number.” > > My hunch is that the number of people that agree to go through all the questions of a political poll, but then decide to “no opinion” on matters they have strong opinions about, is minuscule. I am, of course, open to evidence to the contrary. You are subtly trying to misrepresent what we are disagreeing on. At no point did I say these people held a ‘strong opinion’. I simply said a number of them will have held an opinion on the question; any form of opinion. Their opinion may be a partial opinion, a strong opinion, a weak opinion, a foolish opinion or an informed opinion. My evidence is in the form of opinion polls notoriously getting public opinion wrong. One reason for pollsters getting public opinion wrong is that not every poll responder is entirely honest in their answers. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/16 "2018-07-24T20:59:05Z")
I have to agree with **LHoD** on this one. I can’t see agreeing to do the poll and then not answering questions. The polls are anonymous. What purpose does it serve to agree to participate and then not answer? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/17 "2018-07-24T21:08:03Z")
The summit poll understates the core of Trump’s support, I think, because his overall approval rating doesn’t seem to have budged as a result of the summit. Presumably this means that of the people disapproving of the summit, there is a significant portion that nonetheless does not value the issue particularly highly. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/18 "2018-07-24T22:19:41Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > I have to agree with **LHoD** on this one. I can’t see agreeing to do the poll and then not answering questions. The polls are anonymous. What purpose does it serve to agree to participate and then not answer? That people will sometimes skip poll questions isn’t exactly a new and exotic phenomenon. Any baby’s-first-social-science textbook that deals with public response data should help you see if you can’t figure it out on your own. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/19 "2018-07-24T22:52:08Z")
demographic questions on age group , race, income , etc. are almost always at the end of a survey since a lot of people don’t like answering those. If you put at them at the start a lot of people would not answer any questions. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474/20 "2018-07-25T10:14:22Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > every president is going to have hard core backers no matter what he does. 33% sounds about right for hard core guys/gals. Should we be worried that the general [Crazification Factor](http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2005/10/lunch-discussions-145-crazification.html) seems to be rising? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-poll-on-helsinki-summit-reveals-size-of-always-trumpers/818474.md?page=2)