Trump supporters are from Mars, his critics are from Venus

People disagree about President Donald Trump – a lot, and without ambiguity. If you like the president, you’re all in. If you don’t, you really, really don’t. “Somewhat,” the historically safe middle ground in polling, has been obliterated.

This is not really news: Pollsters, journalists and academics have been documenting America’s growing political polarization for decades. And this state of the nation seems to ring true in East Helena, according to a recent survey by The Monitor.

What’s telling, though, is how we disagree. Our survey indicates that, when assessing the president’s performance one year after the election, Trump supporters tend to focus on key issues such as tariffs, bureaucracy, and immigration. Critics are more likely to dwell on personality, democratic dysfunction, and the way power is being wielded in Washington.

We’ll explore that in a moment. But first, a few words of introduction:

The Monitor produces surveys every so often, to gauge political sentiment in the communities we serve and compare it to national data. The point is not, as one Facebook commenter opined, to “stir the pot.” Well, OK, to some extent it is — but we’re not stirring the pot for its own sake.

Rather, we hope the results will provoke constructive conversation. It serves democratic function to help people better understand what their neighbors think, and why — and, then, armed with that insight, to engage and discuss. We’ve found that asking the sorts of questions we do in these surveys helps us identify not just where we differ, but also where we’re aligned.

At least one survey participant who otherwise distrusts the media approves: “I love what you are doing [with this survey]. There is a huge problem with algorithms that only provide a person with information that supports their worldview. How can we as a people weigh the pros and cons of an issue when we have no idea what the basis is for the other side’s views?”

Yes, exactly.

Also, we’re still new in town, and we’re working hard to get to know the place. Part of that means understanding where folks stand politically, and why. East Helena is not Jefferson County, where we come from; your history and culture are different, and so are your politics.

The Monitor’s first survey in East Helena drew 124 respondents from Nov. 19 to Dec. 6, enough to take the results seriously. Folks were roughly split between those who voted for Trump a year ago and those who favored Kamala Harris, with another 10% indicating they had voted for someone else or not at all.

Overall, 70% of Trump voters reported that they were very satisfied with the president’s job performance so far. Another 15% were somewhat satisfied, and 15% were somewhat or very dissatisfied. Harris voters were less ambivalent: All but one said they were very dissatisfied, a pattern that would persist throughout the survey.

That divide held when we asked about people’s personal prospects: 75% of Trump supporters expected to be better off four years from now than they are today, 87% of Harris voters said they’d be worse off.

We also asked about expectations for the nation as a whole — and here, the response was more nuanced. While the great majority of Harris voters told us they felt the U.S. was moving in the wrong direction, zero Trump voters said the country was headed in the right direction (a stark difference from the survey we conducted last month in Jefferson County). Rather, most Trump voters agreed with the statement: “The nation will experience significant short-term disruption and pain. But the long-term pay-off probably will be worth it.”

One respondent expanded on that response: The president, he wrote, “is running the country like a business, [making] decisions that make sense. America was headed for financial doom. The action he is taking will help reduce our deficit and get the country back on firm financial footing. It can’t be done in four years, but hopefully our next president will continue what he started.”

Our survey then drilled down into the issues, asking how people felt about the administration’s performance on pressing policy areas. The response from Harris voters on these questions was as binary as on the top line: On every issue, they reported feeling very dissatisfied.

Trump voters, in contrast, appeared more modulated: A large majority was very satisfied with policy on immigration, global security and public safety, but satisfaction was somewhat weaker on health and the environment.

And here’s where things got interesting. In their comments, some Trump supporters acknowledged what they saw as the president’s problematic style, like his recent remarks suggesting that the concept of affordability was a Democratic “hoax.” “I don’t care for his delivery of some of his comments,” said one “Wish he was a little more humble,” wrote another.

But they tended to discount the importance of those personal shortcomings relative to Trump’s policy, applauding the administration’s efforts to tighten immigration, reduce the size of government and attack the national debt.

“The border is closed and ICE is working hard to get the criminals, allowed in by the Biden administration, out of our country,” one person wrote. “Prices are slowly coming down, he’s ended eight wars or conflicts and many more accomplishments, too many to list.”

Others said they favored the president’s social policy which, as one wrote, “abhors abortion, supports families [and] provides opportunities for a thriving middle class. Judeo-Christian values provide critical guiding principles for Congress and the judicial system.”

Trump foes seemed to be viewing all this from another planet. Some criticized policy specifics— most often immigration and tariffs. But they were far more likely to condemn the quality of Trump’s leadership and the toll his presidency was taking on America’s democracy.

“He continues to try to directly undermine the Constitution and makes childish threats to lawful motions put in place by oppositional figures and parties,” wrote one Harris voter. Said another: “The courts have given him absolute immunity, and by his ability to use executive orders he has completely strong-armed anyone from holding him accountable to wrongdoings.”

And this: “He is a greedy, selfish dishonest person who seems to mostly be about doing things that harm our country, our people and our most cherished institutions while fleecing us as furiously as he can.”

To grossly oversimplify, our survey suggests that Trump supporters feel the president’s policy ends justify his approach to leadership, and also, probably, a few years of economic hardship. His critics could forgive the policy — the team that’s elected gets to make the rules, after all — but find the means an extraordinary and unforgivable corrosion of democracy and humanity.

That’s a pretty broad divide, but it’s not impossibly mysterious. There’s something to talk about here. We’re grateful to those who responded to the survey for sharing their opinions in thoughtful and (mostly) respectful ways. We hope the results help lay a foundation for productive discussion, and we look forward to being part of that.

Follow The East Helena Monitor on Facebook to get updates on our community discussions. The next will be in mid-to-late January.