President Donald Trump’s White House party saga followed a familiar Trump-era arc last week, with a bunch of the president’s critics sounding the alarm over his latest provocation — in this case, the sudden and unexpected demolition of the East Wing — and plenty of others questioning what the big deal was.
After all, he’s just building a ballroom. And the White House seemed to need a ballroom!
“Of all the reasons to criticize President Trump, this has to be considered the dumbest,” writes National Review, which has often been Trump-sceptical.
The Washington Post’s editorial board said Trump is characterized by “pursuing a valid idea in the most outrageous way.” But he was praised for pushing ahead and firing “a crossbow shot at NIMBYs everywhere.”
Well, it turns out most Americans see something wrong with Trump’s treatment of the East Wing and the ballroom.
In fact, it’s one of the most unpopular things he’s done in this second term. And it’s not just those who don’t like Trump who are against it.
A new Yahoo News-YouGov survey is the first quality survey to delve deeply into the partying saga.
It shows Americans opposed Trump’s demolition of the East Wing (57%-26%), his plans to replace it with a 90,000-square-foot ballroom (61%-25%) and broader management of the situation (55%-28%), all by about a 2-to-1 margin.
Even Trump supporters don’t defend him too much.
For example, only 55% of Republicans supported demolishing the East Wing and building a ballroom. That compares with 94% of Democrats who disapproved of both. About a quarter of Republicans disagreed with both arguments.
Indeed, passion seems very “against” this issue.
Only 18% of Americans strongly approved of Trump’s handling of the situation, while 46% strongly disapproved. And the majority of independents were among those who strongly disagreed: 52 percent.
So this one does It seems to have mostly animated people of all hair types.
None of this means that this is a change in the political issue that will suddenly plunge Trump’s overall approval numbers to new lows. But it’s reinforced by the fact that he continues to do things in a fairly random way, which makes a lot of people not like what they’re seeing – even some people who seem to approve of him in general.
The important question is why people disagree.
Is it just because they don’t like change? Were the images of the demolished East Wing just that annoying? Or maybe people objected to the lack of transparency and the fact that Trump downplayed the scale of construction. (Trump said less than three months ago that the ballroom project “will not interfere with the current building,” although the White House has released renderings showing the giant ballroom replacing the East Wing entirely.)
These are all reasonable hypotheses. But the numbers may actually point in the other direction.
While people disagreed by about a 2-to-1 margin no matter how you asked the question, they were actually slightly more likely to oppose plans for the ballroom (61%) than demolishing the East Wing (57%).
This is a bit counter-intuitive.
The demolition of the east wing was the horrible part. One can see a situation where people may think the Ballroom is appropriate and even necessary, but don’t like the way the East Wing has been demolished. But in reality, Americans disliked the ballroom little more than dismantling the East Wing.
What it might mean: People don’t like the idea of building a fancy new $300 million mansion on the grounds of the White House. $500,000 ballroom—privately funded, Trump says—at a time of great economic hardship and inflation.
Trump has shown remarkably little concern for such optics. He gilded the interior of the White House. He and his family have taken little care to protect themselves from accusations that they ignored conflicts of interest and enriched themselves through the presidency, particularly through cryptocurrency businesses. Even as the country grapples with the effects of a government shutdown, Trump is accepting gifts abroad like a golden crown from South Korea.
There are signs that maybe people are starting to take notice. A Pew Research Center poll a month ago found that 61% of Americans and even 31% of Republicans said they believed Trump at least “probably” misused his position to enrich himself, friends and family.
A CBS News-YouGov poll around the same time found that 75% of Americans said Trump had not focused enough on “lowering the prices of goods and services.”
In other words, it doesn’t seem like a great time to bulldoze part of the White House in the name of building an expensive party venue. And Trump has done a great job of making sure people notice exactly what he’s doing.
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