Half of voters say President-elect Donald Trump should “put all of his financial assets into a blind trust,” while 24 percent say he should not. But 26 percent have no opinion. | Getty Voters doubt Trump will keep business interests separate

President-elect Donald Trump isn’t ready to disclose how he plans to unwind his intricate web of potential financial conflicts, but voters are already skeptical Trump will keep his business interests separate from his duties as president when he takes office next month, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll released Tuesday.

Trump on Monday scrapped plans to brief the news media this week on how he intends to withdraw from his corporation, and the poll, conducted before Trump’s postponement, shows little consensus on the extent to which Trump should step back from his various business holdings before moving into the Oval Office.


A majority of voters, 52 percent, say Trump’s “business interests and positions” will affect his decision-making as president “a lot,” and a further 29 percent say they will have “some” effect on his decisions.

Poll respondents are split, however, on whether Trump’s business ties would be beneficial to his presidency. Nearly as many voters say Trump’s business interests and positions are a “good thing” (39 percent) as say it’s a “bad thing” (44 percent).

That’s mostly a function of partisanship: 73 percent of Republicans say it’s a “good thing,” and the same percentage of Democrats call it a “bad thing.”

"Interestingly enough, Democrats and Republicans actually agree that Trump's business interests could affect his decisions while in office,” said Kyle Dropp, Morning Consult co-founder and chief research officer. “But whether or not they think that is a good thing is a completely different matter.”

Trump’s precise intentions remain unclear. He had promised to roll out his plans for his businesses — comprising mostly real-estate holdings, retail goods and naming rights — in a “major news conference” scheduled for Thursday in New York. But a Trump transition source told POLITICO on Monday that news conference won’t happen until the new year.

Voters do say it’s important for Trump to remove himself from operating his businesses before taking office in January: Fifty-seven percent call it “very important,” while 22 percent say it’s “somewhat important.”

But voters are also unconvinced that Trump won’t be affected by any conflicts of interest. Asked whether they expect Trump to take actions to benefit his businesses — even if he’s no longer in control of them — while serving as president, 43 percent say it’s “very likely,” while 26 percent say it’s “somewhat likely.”

Even a majority of Republicans, 52 percent, say it’s either “very” or “somewhat” likely Trump will take actions that benefit his businesses. Only 8 percent of all voters say it isn’t likely “at all” Trump would benefit his businesses as president, and 14 percent say it’s “not too likely.”

As for what Trump should do, voters are divided: Thirty percent think Trump should “sell off all his business positions and interests,” including 47 percent of Democrats. A furtrher 15 percent say Trump should sell off “some of his business positions and interests.”

But 27 percent of voters say Trump shouldn’t sell any of his businesses, including 48 percent of Republicans. And 27 percent have no opinion, underscoring the confusion surrounding Trump’s potential business conflicts.

Half of voters say Trump should “put all of his financial assets into a blind trust,” while 24 percent say he should not. But 26 percent have no opinion.

That muddle also extends to more concrete elements of Trump’s businesses. More voters believe Trump should not maintain his various aspects of his business empire, but significant numbers remain either undecided or ambivalent.

Sixty-one percent of voters say Trump should not retain stocks in individual companies that have contracts with the federal government, the largest percentage on a list of eight types of assets about which respondents were asked. Majorities also said Trump shouldn’t maintain holdings in other countries (58 percent), casino businesses (55 percent) and his private company as a whole (51 percent).

There’s less consensus on other elements of Trump’s business: Fifty percent say he shouldn’t maintain his hotel chain, 49 percent think he shouldn’t hold stock in private companies, 47 percent say he shouldn’t keep control of his golf courses and 43 percent said he shouldn’t retain his mutual-fund holdings. That’s larger than the percentages of voters who say he should keep control of these business interests, but roughly 1 in 5 voters don’t have an opinion, the poll shows.

Similar percentages of voters call maintaining these interests inappropriate: a greater share than those who say it’s appropriate, but not overwhelming, especially for some of the more benign-seeming holdings.

While a detailed succession plan for the Trump Organization and precautions, if any, to protect Trump from conflicts of interest might not be clarified for weeks, Trump did say earlier this week he won’t “have anything to do with the management of the company.”

“I won't be involved in my business at all, even though I have a legal right to be under the laws, as you know, because the president has a certain doctrine that he can do things,” Trump said on “Fox News Sunday.” “But I just don't want to do it. Even if I could do it, which I’m allowed to, I wouldn't want to.”

“My executives will run it with my children,” Trump added. “It’s a big company. It’s a great company. … I have a lot of property and great stuff. They’re going to run it. They’re going to run it. Hopefully they’re going to run it properly. I’m sure they’re going to run it properly. But I’m not going to do deals. And I think, you know, I think that’s going to be good.”

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll was conducted Dec. 8-11, surveying 2,000 registered voters. The margin of error is 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: http://politi.co/2gSLfMG | Crosstabs: http://politi.co/2hmvP70