Maine voters are sharply split on President Donald Trump, according to a new poll that found 98% of Republicans said they support his performance one month into his second administration.
Meanwhile, only 1% of Democrats agreed, according to the survey by researchers at the University of New Hampshire.
Among unenrolled voters, 36% said they approve of his performance. Trump’s overall approval rating in Maine was 45%.
“Mainers are considerably more likely than before Trump’s inauguration to think the country is headed in the right direction, fueled by extremely high optimism among Republicans,” the study’s authors wrote in their summary.
Among those who approved of Trump’s job so far, just over one-third cited “reducing spending” as the primary reason. Twenty percent reported “keeping campaign promises” as their primary reason; 12% cited Trump’s “handling of immigration.”
More than half of those surveyed — 54% — believe Elon Musk’s role in the administration is inappropriate. That includes 98% of Democrats and 73% of independents. On the other hand, 87% of Republicans approve of Musk’s role as leader of the group known as the Department of Government Efficiency, which is working to eliminate agencies and slash the federal workforce.
More than a quarter of those who expressed disapproval with Trump cited “undermining democracy/Constitution.” The next most common primary reasons were Musk’s role and Trump’s “poor character,” according to the survey.
Mainers were also largely split along party lines when asked about Trump’s pardoning of participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Eighty-four percent of Republicans said they approved of pardoning the Jan. 6 participants, compared to just 38% of independent voters and 2% of Democrats.
Asked about former President Joe Biden’s pardoning of his son Hunter, only 5% of Republicans approved of Biden’s pardon, while 38% of independents and 45% of Democrats approved.
Support for some of Trump’s more controversial executive orders varied widely.
While 62% of respondents supported Trump’s order to release records related to the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and former President John F. Kennedy, only 20% supported his order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, according to the survey.
The survey included responses from 855 total Mainers and was conducted between Feb. 13 and 17. Roughly 44% percent identified as Democrats, 41% Republicans and 16% independent voters. Half of those surveyed voted for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, who won three of Maine’s four electoral votes.
The margin of error was plus or minus 3.4 percentage points, the administrators said.
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