Many residents of Republican-controlled states who voted for then-President Donald Trump in 2020 believe they would be “better off” if their state seceded from the US, a new poll has revealed.
About 33% of Trump voters in so-called red states say they’d personally fare better if their state “became an independent country,” according to a Yahoo/YouGov poll released on Friday. That compared with 29% who believe they’d be “worse off” after secession. The remaining 38% are either unsure or see themselves faring “about the same” in a newly independent state.
The margin was similar when Americans were asked how their state as a whole would fare after secession, with 35% of Trump voters speculating that it would be better off versus 30% saying that it would be worse off.
The poll marks the latest illustration of increasing political polarization and cultural division in American life. Half of Americans believe there will be another US civil war in their lifetime and that the country will cease to be a democracy at some point, an earlier Yahoo/YouGov poll showed in June.
READ MORE: Biden’s rating reaches record lowThe divide grew even deeper with last month’s US Supreme Court ruling that abortion isn’t a protected constitutional right, leaving the hotly contested issue for state lawmakers to decide. About half of states have either banned abortion already or are expected to place new restrictions on the procedure within the next several weeks.
About 92% of red-state Trump voters trust their state government more than the federal government to do “what’s best,” the latest poll found. Eight in 10 blue-state residents who voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 trust their state government more than Washington.
Just 15% of overall respondents believe the US is “generally headed in the right direction,” compared with 72% who say it’s “off on the wrong track,” the poll showed. Only 27% trust that Biden is “up to the challenges facing the US,” versus 56% who say he isn’t.
Americans also have a grim outlook of the future, with 46% saying the next generation will be “worse off” and only 25% saying it will be “better off.” Similarly, 37% of voters believe America’s best days are “behind us,” compared with 31% who say those days are “still to come.”
READ MORE: Biden dangles abortion rights for midterm votes
Neither Trump nor Biden is viewed as the solution. Only 28% of respondents say Trump should run for president again in 2024, while 18% say Biden should seek re-election.
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