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POLITICS

Politics Even Colors Perceptions of Trump’s Health

Democrats have been complaining recently about President Trump’s physical and mental health, but his White House physician who also worked for President Obama blew those concerns away at a press conference last week. His political opponents, however, aren’t buying it.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that, unlike Trump’s doctor, only 46% of Likely U.S. Voters rate the president’s overall health as good or excellent. Twenty-two percent (22%) describe it as poor. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Looking closer, we find that while 77% of Republicans believe Trump is in good or excellent health, just 18% of Democrats and 43% of voters not affiliated with either major party agree. Thirty-eight percent (38%) of Democrats believe the president is in poor health.

As recently as January of last year, 78% of all Americans rated their own health as good or excellent. Only four percent (4%) said their health was poor.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on January 18 and 21, 2018 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Dr. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician, did say last week that the president needs to lose weight and keep his cholesterol down. Twenty-five percent (25%) of Americans admit to being overweight, and 36% of those who have seen a doctor in the past year say their doctor recommended lifestyle changes in the way they eat, drink or exercise.

Men feel more strongly than women do that the president is in good or excellent overall health. The younger the voter, the more likely he or she is to believe Trump is in poor health.

Fifty-one percent (51%) of whites rate the president’s health positively, compared to 30% of blacks and 31% of other minority voters.

Ninety-four percent (94%) of voters who Strongly Approve of the president’s job performance think he is in good or excellent health. Among those who Strongly Disapprove of the job Trump is doing, just 10% rate his health positively, while 42% believe it is poor.

Eighty percent (80%) of Americans have a doctor they see on a regular basis, and 93% trust that doctor.

Following Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s collapse as she was entering a minivan in September 2016, voters strongly agreed that a candidate’s health is an important voting issue.

 

 Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on January 18 and 21, 2018 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.

We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.

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