The Economist and YouGov published results of its latest polling on U.S. politics this week. One poll gauged Trump’s favorability versus Lincoln, who was the U.S. president between 1861 and 1865 and who steered America through the Civil War and abolished slavery.
Asked “Which Republican president was better?”, 53 percent of Republicans said Trump.
That is in stark contrast to respondents who identify as Democrats and independent. 94 percent of Democrats said Lincoln was the better president, as did 78 percent of independent voters. Overall, 75 percent of poll respondents picked Lincoln compared to 25 percent for Trump.
Other than Republicans, Lincoln was the choice president across all possible polling metrics—preferred by men and women, all age groups and races, as well as based on census region and household income.
The poll results confounded social media users on Friday night, prompting “53% of Republicans” to Trend across Twitter.
Actor Billy Baldwin—whose brother Alec famously portrays a caricature of Trump on Saturday Night Live—tweeted: “53% of Republicans apparently don’t even know who Abraham Lincoln was…”
“53% of Republicans who look up when it is raining, will stand there with their mouths open, until they drown,” wrote John Lurie.
Lurie added: “The thing I find most baffling about 53% of Republicans believing Trump is a better president than Lincoln is - how could anyone that stupid figure out how to vote in the poll?”
“Economist/YouGov Poll: 53% of Republicans believe Donald Trump is a better president than Abraham Lincoln was while 47% believe the president that got this country through the Civil War was better,” said Josh Jordan.
“If you were wondering what segment of the population can not be swayed by facts.”
David Rothkopf said: “I…just…I…can’t…even now…I still…
“Many of these people have jobs. Operate heavy equipment. Move freely in society. Can that be safe?”
Further polling also found that Republicans preferred Trump to George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower—but not Ronald Reagan.
71 percent of Republicans said they preferred Trump over both George W. Bush and his father George H. W. Bush, 82 percent preferred Trump to Ford, 86 percent preferred him to Nixon, and 65 percent preferred him to Eisenhower.
But pit against Reagan, 59 percent of Republicans said they preferred Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, compared to 41 percent saying Trump.
