Reuters/Ipsos Core Political Survey: Party Strength Matchups (07/10/2019)

Washington, D.C. - In this week’s Reuters/Ipsos Core Political, when asked if the country is headed in the right direction or off on the wrong track, just 3 in 10 Americans (30%) report that the country is headed in the right direction. A similar proportion of registered voters feel the same way (31%). Democratic registered voters (9%) and Independent registered voters (25%) are the least likely to say the country is headed in the right direction. On the other hand, 6 in 10 Republican registered voters (62%) believe the country is headed in the right direction.  

President Trump’s approval rating has remained remarkably stable over the last several weeks, with 41 percent of Americans and 43 percent of registered voters approving of the job he is doing as president. President Trump’s base continues to overwhelmingly support him – 8 in 10 Republican registered voters (83%) report they approve of the job Trump is doing as president, and of those, 53 percent strongly approve. Democratic registered voters are extremely critical in their evaluation of Trump’s job performance – just 10 percent of Democratic registered voters approve. Independent registered voters are in line with the general population with 42 percent approving.

Americans remain split on the most important problems facing the country – healthcare (21%), immigration (20%) and the economy (12%) are the major concerns for a majority of Americans. Registered voters report being concerned about the same issues as the general population in similar proportions: healthcare (21%), immigration (21%), and the economy (12%). Democratic registered voters and Republican registered voters have different priorities when it comes to the major issues. Democratic registered voters report healthcare (26%), the economy (16%), and the environment (13%) as the most important issues facing the country. While Republican registered voters report immigration (38%) is their top issue, followed by healthcare (14%) and morality (12%). Independent registered voters report that healthcare (25%), the economy (18%) and morality (11%) and crime (11%) are the biggest issues facing the nation.

More Americans prefer the Republican Party on foreign policy and economic issues, while they prefer the Democratic Party’s policies on domestic and social issues. Americans are more likely to say the Republicans do a better job than Democrats on the following:

• Jobs and employment (38% prefer Republicans, 29% prefer Democrats);
• The economy (37% prefer Republicans, 30% prefer Democrats); and
• Israel (32% prefer Republicans, 20% prefer Democrats);

While the Democratic Party is seen has having better policies than the Republican Party on these domestic issues:

• Healthcare (36% prefer Democrats, 25% prefer Republicans);
• Education (35% prefer Democrats, 22% prefer Republicans);
• Women’s rights (41% prefer Democrats, 18% prefer Republicans); and
• The environment (40% prefer Democrats, 19% prefer Republicans).

Americans are split on which party has a better policy for these issues:

• Immigration (33% prefer Democrats, and 34% prefer Republicans); 
• The federal deficit (25% prefer Democrats, and 26% prefer Republicans);
• Foreign policy (30% prefer Democrats, and 32% prefer Republicans); and
• Taxes (30% prefer Democrats, and 32% prefer Republicans).

About this Study

These are findings from an Ipsos poll conducted for Thomson Reuters between July 8-9, 2019. For the survey, a sample of 1,115 Americans, including 971 registered voters, 459 Democrat registered voters, 372 Republican registered voters, and 113 Independent registered voters ages 18+ were interviewed online. The precision of the Reuters/Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points for all adults, 3.6 percentage points for registered voters, 5.2 percentage points for Democratic registered voters, 5.8 percentage points for Republican registered voters, and 10.5 percentage points for Independent registered voters. For more information about credibility intervals, please see the appendix.

The data were weighted to the U.S. current population data by gender, age, education, and ethnicity. Statistical margins of error are not applicable to online polls. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error and measurement error. Figures marked by an asterisk (*) indicate a percentage value of greater than zero but less than one half of one per cent. Where figures do not sum to 100, this is due to the effects of rounding. To see more information on this and other Reuters/Ipsos polls, please visit http://polling.reuters.com/.

For more information on this news release please contact:

Clifford Young
President, U.S.
Ipsos Public Affairs
202.420.2016
[email protected]

Chris Jackson
Vice President, U.S.
Ipsos Public Affairs
202.420.2011
[email protected]

About Ipsos

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