The percentage of voters who see chaos in President Donald Trump’s White House has increased modestly, but steadily, in recent weeks. | Win McNamee/Getty Images POLITICO/Morning Consult poll Poll: Majority of voters say Trump White House running chaotically 62 percent in the POLITICO/Morning Consult survey see disorder amid problems with Cabinet selections.

A strong majority of voters say President Donald Trump’s administration is running chaotically after Trump’s pick for veterans affairs secretary, White House physician Ronny Jackson, withdrew his name from consideration last week, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.

More than 3 in 5 voters, 62 percent, say Trump’s administration is running very or somewhat chaotically — nearly twice as many as the 32 percent who say it’s running very or somewhat well.


A majority of Republicans, 68 percent, say the Trump administration is running well. But that sentiment is shared by few Democrats (9 percent) and independents (25 percent).

Moreover, the percentage of voters who see chaos in Trump’s White House has increased modestly, but steadily, in recent weeks. In early April, 61 percent of voters said the Trump administration was running chaotically. In mid-March it was 57 percent, and in early March it was 54 percent.

Nearly half of voters, 49 percent, say the Trump administration has done a poor job when it comes to hiring and retaining qualified people — roughly twice as many who say the Trump administration has done an excellent or good job combined.

The new survey was conducted April 26-May 1 — in the wake of Jackson’s withdrawal from consideration to head the Veterans Affairs Department, and as questions continued to swirl around a handful of other Cabinet members, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt.

Of Trump’s Cabinet officials, Sessions has the greatest name identification — and some of the highest negatives. Slightly more than a quarter of voters, 26 percent, have a favorable opinion of Sessions, while 41 percent view him unfavorably. (That ties Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who also has a 41 percent unfavorable rating.)

Pruitt — embattled over what critics call profligate spending on personal items at EPA, including first-class airfare — is lesser known. Only 19 percent view Pruitt favorably, compared with 32 percent who view him unfavorably. Roughly half say they have never heard of him, or have heard of him but don’t have an opinion.

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But poll respondents turn more sharply negative on Pruitt after being told that Pruitt “is under investigation for ethical infractions related to the amount of taxpayer money he has spent while in office, specifically on travel, his security detail and pay raises for his personal aides.” (Respondents were also informed that Pruitt has testified before Congress that “he delegated authority to make spending decisions to members of his staff.”)

After receiving that information, a majority of respondents, 59 percent, say Pruitt has not conducted himself appropriately. Far fewer, 11 percent, say Pruitt has acted appropriately.

A slight majority, 53 percent, say Pruitt should be removed from his position as EPA administrator, while only 12 percent say he should not be removed. More than a third, 35 percent, have no opinion.

Pruitt isn’t getting much backup from Republicans, the poll shows — though there isn’t a loud drumbeat to remove him.

“Although Republicans are dissatisfied with Scott Pruitt’s behavior, they do not necessarily want him out as EPA administrator,” said Kyle Dropp, Morning Consult’s co-founder and chief research officer. “While 48 percent of Republicans say Scott Pruitt has conducted himself inappropriately as EPA administrator, only 38 percent say he should be removed from his position.”

Overall, voters want the Trump administration to do more to protect the environment. A 54 percent majority say the federal government should do more to strengthen environmental protections, even if it hurts some businesses. That’s more than twice the 23 percent who say the U.S. should do more to help businesses, even if it weakens environmental protections.

A majority of voters, 59 percent, say the U.S. should be a part of the Paris Agreement, the deal reached between 195 countries to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Only 18 percent of voters say the U.S. should not be part of the Paris accord.

But a 43 percent plurality says the U.S. should not provide aid to help developing countries reduce carbon emissions in their own countries, compared with 31 percent who think the U.S. should provide that aid to developing countries.

Half of voters, 50 percent, say EPA is not doing enough to address the issue of climate change — roughly two times the 26 percent who say the EPA is doing enough to address climate change.

Trump’s approval rating in the poll is 42 percent, unchanged from last week. And Democrats retain their 9-point lead on the generic congressional ballot, equaling the party’s 2018 high water mark from last week.

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll surveyed 1,991 registered voters and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Morning Consult is a nonpartisan media and technology company that provides data-driven research and insights on politics, policy and business strategy.

More details on the poll and its methodology can be found in these two documents — Toplines: https://politi.co/2HHsg55 | Crosstabs: https://politi.co/2jj1BB4

