美国国家公共电台 NPR Poll: Americans Not Sold On Trump — Or Democrats（在线收听）

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

A new poll from NPR, PBS NewsHour and Marist finds that overall, independent voters are not impressed with the direction that either party wants to take this country. And that is important ahead of the 2020 election. NPR's lead political editor Domenico Montanaro is here in the studio for more on this poll.

Hi, Domenico.

DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Hey there, Ari.

SHAPIRO: What does this poll tell us about the president and his chances at reelection given that we're still more than a year out from that election?

MONTANARO: I mean, they're not great. You know, his approval is at 44%. It's the highest, actually, in Marist's polling over the last 2 1/2 years since he became president, but it's kind of mediocre. A lot...

SHAPIRO: It's remarkable he's never broken 50% in these polls.

MONTANARO: Never. He's been pretty standard, you know, in the mid to high 30s to the low to mid 40s. And a lot of the improvement is because of the economy. We have a majority of people approving of his handling of it, two-thirds of people saying that it's working well for them personally. And yet, there's this disconnect between his mediocre approval rating. And you've got 54% of people saying they definitely will not vote for him in 2020.

SHAPIRO: Such an unusual gap between satisfaction with the economy and dissatisfaction with the man in the White House. Is that necessarily good news for Democrats?

MONTANARO: In theory it is. Except in reality, realize 54% of people didn't vote for Donald Trump for election in 2016 as it is. You know, only 46% of people voted for him then. And people are not quite sure what to make of the Democratic primary at this point and the policies they're putting forward. They're split, they say, on Democrats and the direction that they would take the country - whether it's the right direction or the wrong direction. And by the way, independents think Democrats would take it in the wrong direction. So far, a plurality are saying that.

SHAPIRO: With so many Democrats in the running right now, there are a lot of different policy proposals out there. And I know this poll asked about a bunch of them. What were some of the things that were widely popular and a couple of things that were not?

MONTANARO: Yeah, we asked about almost two dozen things - 20 things. And let's just start with what they like. Medicare as - Medicare for All as an option to private health insurance is supported by 70% of independent voters, right?

SHAPIRO: That would be without eliminating privately run health insurance.

MONTANARO: Correct. But when you do that as an option to - when you do it to replace private health insurance, that plummets to 39% support with independents and 41% overall. Government regulation of prescription drug prices - there, two-thirds of independents like that. Providing a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the United States illegally, 67% of independents are on board there.

As far as what they don't like, though - making health insurance available to those in the country illegally, decriminalizing those border crossings, reparations for slavery and a universal basic income of $1,000 a month per person to combat automation. All those are very unpopular, and all those are things that have gotten lots of attention on the Democratic campaign trail.

SHAPIRO: Well, according to this poll, which party seems to be more in line with what independents want - Democrats or Republicans?

MONTANARO: Well, it's not at all clear because there are lots of things that Democrats really - that independents like about Democrats and lots of things they don't like about what Democrats are forward, but also things they don't like that Republicans would want to do. Take, for example, wanting to repeal Obamacare. Independents not in support of that. They think that's a bad idea to repeal it. And 55% of independents want a ban on assault-style weapons. That's a position unpopular with most Republicans. A majority of independents also support a $15 federal minimum wage, something just a quarter of Republicans say they can get behind.

SHAPIRO: Sounds like the country is still very divided. Briefly, any areas of agreement?

MONTANARO: When you look at whether there should be background checks, almost 90% of people are in favor of background checks - for stricter background checks for gun purchases.

SHAPIRO: NPR's Domenico Montanaro, thank you very much.

MONTANARO: You're so welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF POLA AND BRYSON'S "DUSK")