Trump would still beat Harris or Biden in election rematch | Opinion

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

President Donald Trump is delivering on what he said he would do, and, for the most part, his voters appreciate it.

Ingrid JacquesUSA TODAYHear this story

I realize this may blow Democrats' minds, but 100 days into President Donald Trump's second term, most of the millions of Americans who cast their vote for him are still happy they did.

And Trump has not been twiddling his thumbs in these first months back in the Oval Office.

There's plenty to like or dislike, from his large number of executive orders to his federal cost-cutting bonanza with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

So, it's telling that a recent poll shows the vast majority of Trump supporters would vote for him again now, if given the opportunity for a do-over.

And significantly more people are happy with the direction of the country now than they were before Trump took office. The gap between those who think the country is on the wrong track and those who think it's on the right track has shrank from 36 points in November to fewer than 12 now.

Trump is delivering on what he said he would do, and, for the most part, his voters appreciate it.

Within weeks, Trump secured the border that his predecessor, Joe Biden, had left wide open. The Trump administration also is deporting illegal immigrants with criminal records.

On economic matters, Trump is following through in a big way with his promise of tariffs, and polls show that he's testing how far inflation-weary Americans are willing to endure the president's risky gamble.

As tariffs (and the subsequent threat of much higher prices) have become a reality, Trump's approval numbers have dropped since he took office, even when it comes to the economy - a traditionally strong category for him.

So while Trump should not ignore the warning signs, it's far from all bad news 100 days in.

Only 2% of Trump voters 'regret' their choice and would 'vote differently'

A president's approval numbers are usually mercurial, and move up and down depending on what's happened in recent days. That's why a poll from this month caught my eye.

A University of Massachusetts Amherst/YouGov poll released April 14 asked voters how they felt about their presidential choice, three months into Trump's term.

The survey found that only 2% of Trump voters regret their choice and would "vote differently" now if they could.

That's telling and speaks to more lasting support for the president and his agenda.

Another telling number is that only 1% of Trump voters say they'd rather not have voted at all. Yet, when it comes to Kamala Harris, the former vice president and Democratic nominee, 14% of her voters say they'd rather have not taken part.

CNN data analyst Harry Enten said this poll belies a common refrain in the media that a lot of Republicans regret voting for Trump.

"So the bottom line is this: If there's some idea out there that Trump voters are going around, 'Man, I wish I had voted for Kamala Harris instead of Donald Trump,' the numbers say that is a fanciful universe," Enten observed. "It really, for the most part, does not exist."

Democrats still can't get over fact Trump is president. But they have only themselves to blame.

This fairytale, in which any conservative would have been persuaded to vote for a true-blue progressive like Harris, is annoying to say the least.

Yet, I have heard from many Democrats in recent months, scolding me for not having the "virtue" to support their candidate. Every time Trump does something they don't like (which is all the time), I get angry emails saying "you voted for this."

For one thing, I never said whom I voted for, because it's no one's business but mine. In this role, I advocate for a set of principles I believe in - and I make decisions on whom to support based on how the candidate aligns with my beliefs.

No one is perfect. Trump isn't perfect. And I disagree with plenty that he's done and the way in which he's done it, most strongly on the tariffs.

There's a much higher chance, however, that Trump will do something I support than Harris or Biden would have.

And Democrats have only themselves to blame for the Trump−Harris matchup. After they spent years lying to the American people about Biden's health, they swapped Harris for Biden in a last-minute ploy that voters didn't appreciate.

Harris compounded the problem with her inability to put two coherent sentences together or to differentiate herself from her boss.

She would have been a terrible president, and not the president we needed to secure the border or strengthen the economy, which faltered under the Biden-Harris White House.

Voters who chose Trump put a lot of faith in his ability to fix these things.

He must not let them down.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X: @Ingrid_Jacques

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