On Monday, the Pew Research Center released new data bolstering the idea that there was no broad abandonment of Trump by his party. Starting before his inauguration in 2017, Pew asked Americans to measure their views of Trump on a scale from zero to 100. A rating of zero indicated a “very cold” opinion of Trump — as on a thermometer — and a rating of 100 was “very warm.”
From the first measurement conducted by Pew, views of Trump ran more cold than warm. That was largely because Democrats gave Trump more neutral opinions in that December 2016 survey. By the next measurement, in March 2018, Democratic views of Trump were very cold. The views of his Republican base (and Republican-leaning independents) were far warmer. In 2018, 2019 and 2020, the pattern was the same — ice-cold ratings from Democrats, roasting-hot and warmish ratings from Republicans.
