RUSH: Now this polling data that is out there, this is kind of eye-opening. As I say, it is a Marist poll that was commissioned by NPR and PBS. Try some of these bullet points. Trump’s overall disapproval rate is 51%, but he has not lost much support at all among Republicans. His disapproval numbers are steady. He hasn’t had a disapproval number that has increased appreciably recently.
This poll was taken after Charlottesville. Trump’s disapproval numbers did not go up in this poll after Charlottesville. In fact, there was a similar poll yesterday where Trump’s overall disapproval rate was 55%, but his approval rating rate among Republicans was 62%. His support among evangelicals is strong at 58%. Americans who favor leaving the Confederate statues standing, 62% support Trump. Eighty-six percent of Republicans favor leaving the statues standing as historical markers. Sixty-one percent of independents say leave the statues alone.
I’m telling you, the Democrats are not the mainstream on this. They are lied to by their media just like we are. Their polls tell them lies just like their media tells them lies. They are not the mainstream on Charlottesville. They’re not the mainstream on the statue story. Again, 86% Republicans favor leaving the statues alone. Sixty-one percent of independents do. The only group that favors getting rid of the statues is that segment of Democrats called “strong Democrats.” The segment that are called in this poll “soft Democrats,” favor keeping the statues 52%.
Does any of this surprise you, Mr. Snerdley? Okay. But why? It surprises you because you don’t know how anybody could put up with this media onslaught. You watched the media after Charlottesville, and you think, “My God, the American people have to hate the guy.” It’s not affecting them. These numbers are no different on Trump than before Charlottesville, and particularly on the Republican side.
The only group of people, when you define people and group them by ideology, the only group of people who have a majority for taking the statues down is “liberal” and “very liberal.” And that number is 57%. That number is not a hundred percent. That number is not even 60%. It’s not 65%. You watch the media, you would think that everybody in America wants those statues down now, right? The only group in an ideological breakdown that wants the statues gone, and it’s only 57% of them, is “liberal” and “very liberal.” Moderates, 67% leave the statues alone. Eighty-one percent of conservatives, leave the statues alone.
It is a decided minority who want the statues uprooted, destroyed, and gone, meaning it is a minority of Americans who support Antifa, a minority of Americans. A minority of Americans who support Occupy Wall Street, a minority of Americans support these rioters. And look, Trump is in trouble because he doesn’t recognize where most Americans are? Trump is said to be tone deaf and despicable and unfit for office because he said both sides do it.
And in this poll, the clear majority of all Americans, aside from very liberals, want the statues left alone! This is what Charlottesville was all about! And in this poll — and again, it’s Marist, PBS, NPR — in this poll Trump hasn’t lost any approval number since Charlottesville. That doesn’t compute to a lot of people. Trump’s press conference on Tuesday that supposedly offended everybody, apparently not, folks.
The area of the country that is hell-bent on getting rid of the statues, the Northeast. But don’t be misled by that. That is the area of the country where the percentage of people is the highest getting rid of the statues, but even at that, 53% in the Northeast say leave the statues alone. So you’re not confused, the Northeast has the highest percentage of people who want to get the statues gone, but they’re not a majority. They are still a minority of people in that geographic area.
Majorities in every age-group support leaving the statues alone. Every age-group that is surveyed in every one of those groups, support for leaving the statues alone is minimum 60%. Some are higher than that. Are you getting the picture here? What you’re seeing on TV, what you’re hearing by all these analysts and all these panels and all these discussions making it look like everybody is finally fed up with American history, America’s fed up with its history and wants all these monuments and statues gone.
No. It’s a minority that want that.
Evangelicals: 85% percent leave the statues alone. Not even an issue with them. And get this number. Fifty-two percent of the people in this poll believe Trump’s response to Charlottesville has not been strong enough. Fifty-two percent think Trump’s response has not been strong enough. Now, I don’t know if that means strong enough anti- the Klan and all that or he hasn’t been strong enough in opposing the Antifa people.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Okay. Now, after all of that polling data — which, it’s undoubted, folks. The media is portraying public opinion on Charlottesville and the statue area totally erroneously. No matter how you cut it, a majority of Americans want the statues left alone. They do not support this effort of cleansing American history from public. It’s obvious in every group. Even in the Northeast, when the geographic slice is made, you find — even in the Northeast — a majority of Americans want the statues left alone.
It’s only liberal and very liberal Americans, who want them down, and that’s a subset; it’s not a minority of that group. But after all of that news, the same poll says 61% of the American people have “little or no confidence in Trump’s leadership of the nation during an international crisis.”
So what are we to make of this? Those two things kind of are at odds. The one, I think, irrefutable conclusion is that the media is overwhelmingly distorting the public’s reaction to Trump’s handling of what happened in Charlottesville. They are blowing that so out of proportion. The media’s handling of this is in no way reflective of public opinion of it — and that, to me, is big. The 61% who say they have “little or no confidence in Trump’s leadership in an international crisis,” that’s kind of a standalone. It’s a problem, yeah.