A majority of Republicans believe President Donald Trump has prioritized his own business interests since returning to office, according to new AP-NORC polling that analysts described as a notable break from the base's usual reluctance to absorb negative news about him.
The survey found that 55 percent of Republicans hold that view, while about three-quarters of Americans overall said the same. A similar share of Republicans also said Trump has prioritized the business interests of his friends, family and those close to him.
The findings were discussed on «Receipts Live» by The Bulwark economics editor Catherine Rampell and editor Jonathan V. Last, who focused on the intensity of Republican responses. Last noted that 21 percent of Republicans said «not at all» when asked whether Trump has prioritized his own interests, a figure slightly smaller than the 23 percent who said «a lot.»
«You get almost a quarter of Republicans saying, yeah, sure seems like he's using the government to enrich himself a lot,» Last said. «And that's not nothing.»
Rampell called the results «pretty striking» because Republican voters are not typically inclined to hear inconvenient news about how Trump is benefiting financially. She pointed to recent reports, including one that a federal regulator was told to back off a probe into suspiciously timed trades and another on the apparently overseas buyers of Trump's memecoin.
«Even Republicans are now acknowledging, yeah, he's in it for himself,» she said.
Last cautioned that the numbers do not necessarily mean those voters will turn against Trump. Some may still argue that «everybody does it» or that his conduct is «no worse than what Joe Biden» did, he said.
Rampell flagged another caveat: Republicans in the same survey overwhelmingly said Trump was prioritizing the country at large and people like them as well. «If you know how priorities work, you can't prioritize everything and everyone,» she said. «But I think this is the only way to keep a handle on all of that cognitive dissonance.»
She also noted that a recent Fox News poll found corruption in government topped voters' list of concerns heading into the midterms, edging out inflation and gas prices.
The poll adds a new dimension to the debate over how firmly Trump's coalition is holding together as the midterm elections approach. While Republicans continue to give the president strong marks on representing the country and people like them, the finding that more than half see him putting his own business interests first suggests a strain between loyalty to Trump and concerns about self-dealing.
For Democrats, the numbers offer a potential opening to argue that corruption is a kitchen-table issue that resonates even with the president's own supporters. For Republicans, the survey points to a challenge in keeping the focus on economic concerns like inflation and gas prices while questions about ethics and government enrichment persist.
The AP-NORC survey is a recurring national poll that measures public opinion on politics and policy. The results discussed on «Receipts Live» reflect responses collected as Trump's second term unfolds and as congressional midterm campaigns take shape.