EXCLUSIVE: Majority expect Donald Trump to keep promises

A majority of Americans trust that President-elect Donald Trump will fulfill his campaign promises on immigration and other issues, according to a new survey released to The Hill.

Sixty-four percent of registered voters polled by Harvard University’s Center for American Political Studies and the National Research Group said Trump will be either very or somewhat effective in fulfilling his campaign promises, not only on immigration but also to invest in the nation’s infrastructure, to cut taxes and to repeal ObamaCare.  

{mosads}Seventy-eight percent approve of his infrastructure promise, and 53 percent think he’ll keep it.

A majority of Americans also approve of a proposal to cut individual income taxes, according to the poll. But Americans are slightly more confident the president-elect will cut taxes on corporations, as opposed to cutting taxes for individuals.

Fifty-four percent of respondents trust the president-elect will uphold his campaign promise to repeal and replace ObamaCare — a pledge he often made during his campaign rallies. But only 46 percent of respondents approve of the idea to repeal and replace President Obama’s signature healthcare law.

Mark Penn, managing partner and president of The Stagwell Group, which oversees the National Research Group, said the results suggest Trump could build a consensus around some of his policies. 

“I think that there were a considerable number of policies, particularly as it relates to taxes, infrastructure and some but not all of his immigration and healthcare stuff around which he could build a very strong consensus,” Penn said. 

On immigration, perhaps the central issue of Trump’s campaign, there is the belief that Trump will follow through on his pledges, though there is evidence that many Americans disagree with his policies. 

Fifty-three percent said they strongly or somewhat trust Trump will uphold his promise to stop immigration from Syria and other terror-prone regions. Fifty-seven percent approve of that campaign promise.

Fifty-four percent of respondents believe Trump will keep his campaign pledge to deport undocumented immigrants.

The survey found strong support for removing immigrants living in the country illegally who have criminal records.

About 90 percent of those polled back deporting illegal immigrants with a criminal record.

But there were some findings in the poll that suggested support for allowing some illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S.

Seventy-two percent of respondents were in support of comprehensive immigration reform, according to the poll. Sixty-five percent would allow immigrants who have been in the country illegally for five years and who pay their taxes to apply for citizenship or residency.  

During his campaign, Trump pledged to deport the more than 11 million immigrants in this country illegally. Since winning the White House, Trump has said he would immediately deport or incarcerate 2 million to 3 million “criminal” undocumented immigrants when he takes office in January.

Once the border is “secure,” Trump said his administration will then decide what to do about the remaining undocumented immigrants in the country.

Yet only 46 percent of respondents said they agreed that immigrants make the United States less safe. Fifty-four percent somewhat or strongly disagreed with that statement.

Only 21 percent said the U.S. should impose a Christian religious test on incoming immigrants, but 65 percent thought the U.S. should impose an English language test.

Forty percent trust Trump to follow through on his promise to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico.

Trump has proposed a $1 trillion infrastructure proposal to improve roads, bridges, tunnels and more.

Under the plan, the federal government would provide $137 billion in tax credits to private investors to build infrastructure, something Trump said would leverage $1 trillion in further public and private investments over 10 years. 

Trump has also argued that his proposal would pay for itself.

In an interview earlier this month with The New York Times, the president-elect said infrastructure will not be a “core” part of his agenda during the first few years of his administration. He said his $1 trillion proposal is “not the core, but it’s an important factor.”

Half of respondents think the president-elect will uphold his promise to cut taxes on corporations, and 47 percent trust he will fulfill his pledge to cut taxes for individuals. Three-quarters of respondents support Trump’s proposal to cut individual income taxes, while only 35 percent agree he should cut corporate taxes.

Since winning the election, Trump has pledged to keep parts of ObamaCare while saying he might not pursue a full repeal. He told the Wall Street Journal the law would be “amended, or repealed and replaced,” and that he would keep two of the law’s more popular provisions: protections for people with preexisting conditions and allowing young people to remain on their parents’ plans until the age of 26.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence said earlier this month that Trump’s focus “out of the gate” will be on repealing and replacing ObamaCare.

The poll found a majority of Americans also support enacting new lobbying restrictions, getting NATO members to pay their dues and expanding family leave — but less than half of respondents trust the president-elect will fulfill these campaign promises.

Less than half of Americans approve of Trump’s proposals to build a wall along the country’s southern border, to allow police to use the controversial stop-and-frisk-practice, to undo the Iran deal and to stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The poll also found that more people have an unfavorable view of Trump than have a favorable view of the president-elect.

“Donald Trump has a big task of consolidating his support to get above 50 percent support,” Penn said. “It’s very difficult to be a president and have below 50 percent favorability.”

The survey was conducted from Nov. 19 to 21 among 2,200 respondents. The margin of error is 2 percentage points.