Happy Thursday. A quick flag before we get to it: Following our Tuesday newsletter, we expanded a bit on our item focused on Elon Musk’s presence in Donald Trump’s administration with more data on what voters make of his influence in the administration, job performance and DOGE’s efficacy. Read more from me here. |
1. Most voters aren’t worried about a shutdown
2. Zelenskyy falls further underwater with GOP voters
3. America’s biggest news source is social media
4. What we’re tracking
5. What we’re reading |
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1. MOST VOTERS AREN’T WORRIED ABOUT A SHUTDOWN |
Shares of voters who said a federal government shutdown on March 15 is … |
Few voters see the prospect of a government shutdown as particularly likely as lawmakers in Washington inch toward their deadline next Friday (keep reading for more on the news below). According to our weekly tracking survey, 14% of voters see a shutdown on March 15 as “very likely,” while just over a third see it as somewhat likely. Nearly half of Democrats (46%) see a shutdown as at least somewhat possible, compared with just a quarter (27%) of Republicans who say the same. Very few voters have heard “a lot” about the prospect of a shutdown (12%), which as we noted in the update to our tracking of Trump’s Washington this week, ranks it among the lower-profile news events we’ve tested this year. House Democrats have gotten used to bailing out Republican speakers in recent years on must-pass funding measures. But given the outrage about Trump’s unilateral attempts to curb congressionally appropriated spending, Democrats in both chambers have shown more appetite for a shutdown in recent weeks than since the first Trump presidency. While reporting from Axios suggests cooler heads are set to prevail on that front, it’s worth noting that if Democrats do refuse to put up the votes to help keep the government open, our data suggests that while 31% of voters would blame them for a shutdown, even more would blame Trump (35%) or congressional Republicans (17%). |
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2. GOP VOTERS HAVE TURNED ON ZELENSKYY |
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy favorability ratings among U.S. voters |
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Oval Office blowup with President Donald Trump preceded a big week-over-week decline in his standing with Republican voters in the United States. Compared with a survey conducted right before the Ukrainian leader’s visit to Washington, the share of Republicans with unfavorable views of Zelenskyy increased by double digits (from 39% to 50%), helping drive a smaller increase in negative sentiment among the larger electorate. Zelenskyy is still more popular than not with the American electorate, but last week’s meeting clearly dented his credibility here, especially given how more Republicans, as well as some more independents, would like to see Ukraine cede territory to wrap up the conflict that started after Russia’s invasion. Even though voters have begun to turn on Trump’s foreign policy approach, this data suggests the clock may be ticking for Zelenskyy to rely on popular support in America as Trump pushes to end the war regardless of Zelenskyy’s views on Ukraine’s best interests. And judging by his comments this week about it being "time to make things right" with the United States, Zelenskyy is well aware of his time constraints.
Read more here on how voters feel about ending the conflict.
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| A MESSAGE FROM MORNING CONSULT |
Tracking Public Opinion of Trump's Washington Morning Consult is tracking what voters across the country think about how President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are governing the United States ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Each week, we’ll update this page with fresh and timely data on all of the major questions facing Washington. See the data here. |
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3. AMERICA’S BIGGEST NEWS SOURCE IS SOCIAL MEDIA |
Shares who said they turn to the following sources for news at least daily: |
As print newspapers struggle to stay afloat and many members of Congress continue to show willingness to crawl over coals to score a cable news hit, the way to reach the public may be much simpler: social media. According to a new analysis from my colleague Ellyn Briggs, roughly half of Americans (48%) say they turn to social media for news at least daily, far more than any other medium. Just 9% of adults said they look at a print newspaper daily, just shy of the 12% who say they listen to podcasts or the 14% who read newsletters as often (thank you all for reading!). Democratic voters are far more likely than their Republican peers — or the average American — to tune into traditional broadcast news networks, while Republicans are more fond of radio or cable news programs. The latter finding underlines the rural-suburban bent of the party’s base and its television dominance with platforms such as Fox News. More broadly, the data highlights the importance of social media platforms as influence channels for political figures hoping to sway the public. As Ellyn wrote, “social media has now fully replaced traditional media atop Americans’ news content pyramid, and the latter is at serious risk of becoming wholly irrelevant.”
Read more from her here.
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Education cuts Trump could, as soon as today, issue an executive order that directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department” based on “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law,” according to a draft obtained by The Wall Street Journal. As we shared last month, just 1 in 10 voters — including 17% of Republicans — would eliminate funding for the federal department. Spending talks Top congressional appropriators are nearing an agreement on topline funding levels, but likely not in time for lawmakers to avoid having to pass a stopgap measure next week to avoid a government shutdown, per Politico. But despite progress on those talks, the most likely outcome at this point looks to be passage of a six-month funding patch through September, which Trump prefers and, as of last night, the House GOP’s far right flank appeared to be coming around to. Tech leaders Trump is expected to meet as soon as Monday with tech leaders from companies such as HP, Intel, IBM and Qualcomm amid the prospect of import tariffs and stricter export rules that could impact their global supply chains and operations, Bloomberg News reported. The meeting comes as the Trump administration works to develop an AI strategy and pushes for the repeal of the bipartisan CHIPS Act. Ukraine The Telegraph reported that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are considering a joint visit to Washington with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to try to ease tensions between Washington and Kyiv. Trump has paused aid to Ukraine, but White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said the United States would consider restoring it if peace talks were put into motion and “confidence-building measures” were put on the table as the president looks for more from Ukraine than just the minerals deal. |
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