PASupport for Donald Trump has actually increased among Republican politicians after he tweeted saying four Democratic congresswomen should ‘go back’ to the ‘crime-infested places from which they came’.
An Ipsos poll, which was conducted on Monday and Tuesday (July 15 and 16) found the president’s net approval among members of his party rose by five percentage points to 72 per cent – compared to a similar poll that was conducted last week.
However, Trump has lost support from Democrats and independents since his racist comments, which he made on Twitter on Sunday (July 14).
PAAs reported by the MailOnline, the Ipsos poll gathered responses from 1,113 adults, including 478 Democrats and 406 Republicans in the United States.
The results showed strong Republican backing for Trump, even though a number of Republicans in Congress were reported to have recently turned against the president, openly criticising him for the tweets.
Almost half the Ohio delegation in the House – a key battleground state for Trump as he seeks re-election in 2020 – as well as some Republicans from solidly pro-Trump Texas voiced concern about the president’s comments.
As of yesterday (July 16), approximately three dozen of the 250 in Congress (14 per cent) had called Trump out on his statements, which they brandished ‘racist’.
….and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019
As reported by Reuters, Texas representative Will Hurd described Trumps’s tweets as ‘racist and xenophobic’, stating they were ‘unbecoming of the leader of the free world’.
Pete Olson, also a Texas representative, urged the president to disavow his comments and said he is proud to represent ‘the most diverse Congressional district in America’.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell didn’t directly criticise Trump, however he said yesterday that public debate should be based around ideas rather than personal attacks.
Ohio representative Mike Turner also called Trump’s words ‘racist’ and demanded he apologise, while another four Ohio Republicans joined Turner in condemning the tweets.
I am confident that every Member of Congress is a committed American. @realDonaldTrump’s tweets from this weekend were racist and he should apologize. We must work as a country to rise above hate, not enable it.
— US Rep. Mike Turner (@RepMikeTurner) July 15, 2019
Trump caused outrage over the weekend when he said the four women – all four of whom are US citizens and three born in the United States – ‘originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe’, before telling them to ‘go back’ to where they came from.
Although the president didn’t name the congresswomen, it has since been revealed he was referring to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley – all of whom have been critical of Trump in the past. Notably, they are all women of colour.
Since tweeting the comments, the president has: denied they were racist, stating he does ‘not have a racist bone in his body’, doubled down on his racist remarks, saying ‘it doesn’t concern him because many people agree with him’ and said the victims of his racist tweets should apologise to him, calling for an apology ‘to the office of the president’.
All in a couple of days work, ey?
Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted to condemn the president after his remarks, denouncing them as ‘racist comments that have legitimised fear and hatred of New Americans and people of colour’, the BBC reports.
The vote was passed by 240 to 187; all 235 Democrats voted to approve the resolution, along with four Republicans – Will Hurd (Texas), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pennsylvania), Fred Upton (Michigan), and Susan Brooks (Indiana) – and the House’s sole independent, former Republican lawmaker Justin Amash.
Passing a resolution criticising presidential conduct is extremely rare, with the last time being against William Howard Taft in 1912. There have only ever been four congressional votes to approve resolutions aimed at censuring or condemning a president.
PAAfter the vote, Trump praised the Republican Party for being so ‘unified’, while yet again criticising Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Tlaib, and Pressley (aka ‘The Squad’) for the ‘horrible things’ they said about the US.
A word of advice, Trump: if you really want to see some ‘horrible things’ being said, I refer you back to your initial tweets. In fact, why not have a scroll of your entire Twitter page while you’re at it?
President Trump is yet to delete his tweets.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).