Most Republicans in 2016 swing states think Trump lies or exaggerates

pulse

April 25, 2017 4:23 PM

Sixty-eight percent of Republican voters in swing states believe President Donald Trump intentionally lies or exaggerates, according to a poll released Tuesday.

68% of Republican voters in Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania — all states that went for President Barack Obama in 2012 and President Donald Trump in 2016 — think the president intentionally lies or exaggerates the truth.

A survey of likely voters in the four swing states released on Tuesday by public affairs firm Firehouse Strategies found that 31% of Republican voters believe he doesn't lie, while 51% say that he exaggerates only with good intent.

Notably, an even larger majority of voters believe Trump is no worse than other Republican politicians. 84% believe congressional Republicans lie or exaggerate and fewer of these voters believe that Republican lawmakers never lie than that Trump never lies.

In addition, most Republican and independent voters say they will still vote for Republican candidates in the 2018 midterms, regardless of whether they are able to keep major legislative promises between now and then. Less than 10% of these voters said they would not vote Republican in 2018 if the administration fails to build a border wall, and just 15% said they would not vote Republican if Trump fails to pass tax reform.

A small minority of respondents said they would blame their party if the government shuts down this week. Only 16% of Democrats said they would blame Democratic lawmakers and just 19% of Republicans and independents said they would blame Trump. A majority of voters overall — 56% — would blame Trump or congressional Republicans, rather than congressional Democrats.

The poll surveyed 3,491 likely voters in the four states between April 21 to 23 and has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.

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