LOS ANGELES, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Investor’s Business Daily (IBD), a leading financial news and research organization, today shared additional analysis from its monthly IBD/TIPP poll. In its first poll since successfully predicting the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, IBD/TIPP asked 902 respondents a set of additional questions regarding President-elect Trump, which issues he should prioritize upon taking office, and how they feel about the direction of the country.
As part of the poll, participants were asked to rank their first, second, and third-highest priorities for the new administration from a choice of seven agenda items, which included: funding for improving infrastructure, 'drain the swamp'/enact measures to reduce government corruption, repeal/replace ObamaCare, build a wall/deport illegals who committed crimes, U.S. withdrawal from Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, cancel Iran nuclear deal, and defeat ISIS.
Fifty-four percent of participants named defeating ISIS as one of their top three priorities. Coming in second was lowering taxes and simplifying the tax code (49%), with improving infrastructure such as roads and bridges trailing just behind at 48%. When dissected across gender, 59% of women placed ISIS as their number one priority, while infrastructure spending came in first for men at 51%.
“We’ve conducted and refined our monthly Economic Optimism Index over a number of years, but coming off of the heels of a historically contentious election, we saw an opportunity to probe further in order to uncover how people are feeling as President-elect Trump prepares to take office,” said Terry Jones, Commentary Editor of Investor’s Business Daily. “While there are a number of interesting takeaways, we found it particularly surprising that defeating ISIS ultimately tipped the scales as the issue concerning most Americans, particularly women, because it was not one of the biggest issues of the respective campaigns.”
Along Party Lines
While some poll categories elicited similar responses between political parties, notably prioritizing the defeat of ISIS and the need for infrastructure investments, the chasm between democrats and republicans ran exceptionally deep, with independents falling squarely in the middle. Poll results added valuable perspective on just how sharply divided the country has become. For example:
● 53% of Republicans put repealing ObamaCare on their top-three priority list, with ObamaCare also claiming the number one spot. Conversely, only 11% of Democrats included ObamaCare anywhere in their top-three.
● Republicans were optimistic across the board about the future under a Trump presidency, with 92% believing Trump will change government for the better, while Democrats have become deeply depressed (89% don’t believe the president-elect will have a positive impact). Additionally:
- 75% of Democrats had been satisfied with the direction of the country prior to the election while only 27% are satisfied today.
- When asked about the country’s standing in the world six months from now, 74% of Democrats believe it will be worse compared to just 10% who said so before the election.
- Related to the economy, 52% of Democrats think it will get worse over the next six months vs only 8% reflecting this sentiment prior to Trump’s victory.
- Democrats’ satisfaction on morals and ethics also plummeted from 61% in late October to 21% after Trump was named president.
- President Obama’s approval ratings have gone up among Democrats -- today 90% say he is doing an “excellent or good” job overall, compared with 81% just before the election.
What People Don’t Care About
Interestingly, the poll also revealed that voters across the political spectrum care little about three of Trump’s cornerstone issues — immigration, canceling the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal and canceling the Iran nuclear arms deal.
Despite chants of “Build that wall!” only 21% of respondents placed it and deporting illegals on their list of must-do’s. Canceling TPP got only 15% support, and getting out the Iran deal came in last at 14%.
Also worth noting is where people stand on Hillary Clinton. Despite some of the more extreme sentiments reported on by the media, the public by and large does not want Trump to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her emails (68% are opposed) or the Clinton Foundation (62% are opposed). This indicates that Trump’s backpedaling on wanting to send Clinton to jail is alright with voters on both sides of the aisle, triggering minimal backlash.
At the same time, voters are against a Clinton pardon from President Obama. Seventy percent of all respondents, including 52% of democrats, were against a blanket pardon.
Methodology
IBD/TIPP conducted the national telephone poll of 902 adults from November 28 to December 4 using live interviewers and both cellphone and landlines. The margin of error is +/-3.3 percentage points. Additional information on the poll can be found at: www.investors.com/presidentialpoll
ABOUT THE IBD©/TIPP POLL
The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index is the earliest take on consumer confidence each month and predicts with good reliability monthly changes in sentiment in well-known polls by The Conference Board and the University of Michigan. The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index is based on a survey of 900-plus adults chosen at random nationwide. The national poll is generally conducted in the first week of the month by live interviewers and both cell phone and landlines.
For more information, go to www.tipponline.com. To license the IBD/TIPP Poll, please contact: IBDlicensing@investors.com.
ABOUT INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY (IBD)
Investor's Business Daily is a leading financial news and research organization recognized for proprietary stock screens, comparative performance ratings and a record of identifying stock leaders as they emerge. The company takes a data-first approach to investing, educating investors based on what sound, thorough research yields. IBD has honed its approach over the last 50 years in order to help investors make smarter decisions. Its stock lists have outperformed the S&P, and its recent presidential poll, the most accurate over the past four election cycles, was one of only two national polls to accurately predict the outcome of the 2016 Presidential Election. IBD offers a number of interactive stock research tools and research for investors of every level.
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