Only one in eight Democrat voters say Congress should prioritize investigating the Trump administration once their party takes control, results of a new national survey of voters reveal.
Half (49%) of self-identified Democrat voters cited the economy as the issue they “want the new Democrat majority in Congress to focus on first” – four times the 13% who said “investigating the Trump administration” should be the top priority - according to a survey of U.S. likely voters conducted November 5-9 by Rasmussen Reports.
Investigating the Trump administration actually ranked fourth among Democrat voters’ top priorities, behind “the economy” (49%), “the war in Iran” (17%), and “abolishing ICE” (16%). A mere 2% cited “changing the Supreme Court.”
However, Democrat voters voiced much less confidence that the incoming Democrat majority in Congress will actually accommodate their wishes, when asked the following question:
“Regardless of what you want, what do you expect the new Democratic majority in Congress will actually focus on doing?”
While just 13% of Democrat voters said that investigating President Trump's administration should be the top agenda item for the next Congress, 21% said that’s what Democrats will first focus on with their new majority. Likewise, fewer Democrat voters expect their party to actually make the economy (41%) or abolishing ICE (9%) their primary goal.
Skepticism was even higher among all voters surveyed, as only 10% said the Democrat-controlled Congress should make the investigations their first priority, but three times as many (29%) said they expect Democrats to do just that.
More than half (53%) of all voters surveyed said they want the majority Democrat Congress to first focus on the economy, but less than a third (30%) think they will - even though Democrat candidates made “affordability” a major issue during their campaigns.
Likewise, 18% said “the war in Iran” should be the first issue addressed, but just 13% expect that it will be. About the same percentage said “abolishing ICE” should be Democrats’ first focus (9%) as expect that it will be (10%).
Notably, the overall survey results are weighted heavily toward Democrat opinions, as 52% of all those polled voted for Democrat candidates for Congress in the midterms, while 37% voted for Republicans. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
“What issue do you want the new Democrat majority in Congress to focus on first?” (All respondents)
- The economy: 53%
- The war in Iran: 18%
- Investigating the Trump administration: 10%
- Abolishing ICE: 9%
- Changing the Supreme Court: 2%
- Not sure: 8%
