Not everybody in America is doing the Trump dance--yet--but according to a New York Times/Ipsos poll, the majority of Americans support even his most "controversial" policies. Or, as the Times says, his "harshest" or most "contentious" policy prescriptions. 

Link here: https://t.co/Dburja6sMz

— AG (@AGHamilton29) January 18, 2025

When a policy has majority support, I guess it's hard to call his positions particularly controversial, although admittedly, the opposition to Trump's most MAGA policies generates a lot of heat among those who are committed to the destruction of America, the West, and the transing of the kids. 

LINK: Most Americans Don't Support Top Trans-Activist Goals, NYT Poll Findshttps://t.co/3qHPZsZ966
A Times opinion poll found that the majority of Democrats think women's sports should be restricted according to sex, not gender identity, and that minors shouldn't have access to… pic.twitter.com/3bfOi1xIxl

— Benjamin Ryan (@benryanwriter) January 18, 2025

But as the poll shows, Trump didn't just win due to a massive rejection of the Biden/Democrat policies. Americans actually want Trump to follow through on the very campaign promises that the Democrats believed would doom his bid to get re-elected in 2024.Ironically, the Democrats' commitment to hanging Trump's promises around his neck as if they were a millstone, it was they who drowned under the weight of their own policies. 

Many Americans who otherwise dislike President-elect Donald J. Trump share his bleak assessment of the country’s problems and support some of his most contentious prescriptions to fix them, according to a new poll from The New York Times and Ipsos.

A little more than half of the country expresses some desire to see Mr. Trump follow through with his harshest threat to deal with illegal immigration: deporting everyone living in the United States without authorization.

In what must be a reality check for reporters who spend their lives surrounded by people who give land acknowledgments before they dig into dinner at a restaurant the poll showed wide support for policies which amount to a complete rejection of the progressives' most dearly held beliefs. 

And a large majority is sympathetic to efforts to strictly limit how doctors can treat children struggling with their gender identity — an issue Mr. Trump and other Republicans made central to their campaigns for office. Seventy-one percent said that no one under 18 should be prescribed puberty-blocking drugs or hormones. The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision on the matter later this year.

The poll tells the story of a country turning inward, where people are more aligned with Mr. Trump’s “America First” agenda than they were during his first term in office.

For a political figure so divisive — Americans view him more negatively than any other president about to take office in the last 70 years — the level of support for his ideas is striking. Most Americans say the United States has ignored serious problems at home while entangling itself in costly conflicts abroad, the poll found. A majority believe the government is sending too much money to Ukraine. And many are expressing less tolerance of immigrants overall.

Trump is turning out to be a 21st-century Reagan figure, if not in character then in his ability to reframe how Americans see their country and their ideological commitments. 

As with Reagan, America had to hit bottom before it could start climbing out of the hole into which we have been drug. And, as with Reagan, Pravda Media criticism seems to have lost its power to derail his political success. 

Young people (ages 18-29) are the most optimistic about the Trump Presidency. pic.twitter.com/mMvFR5ChMg

— The Rabbit Hole (@TheRabbitHole84) January 19, 2025

Of course, for those of us who lived through the Reagan years, it is important to remember that Americans had to swallow some harsh medicine before the country started getting better. Reagan had to endure some brutal months and years before medicine started to make the country feel better, and I fear that some of the things Trump will be required to do might put a dent into his popularity at first. 

Of course, history doesn't repeat itself, only rhyme, so this time it might be different. But DOGE will face enormous opposition once the cuts start happening, and the fight over the Department of Education, should Trump actually kill it (PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!) will be epic. 

But the approval of Trump's biggest policy prescriptions will help him get some early wins, and winning begets winning. 

Happy inauguration day! Enjoy it now. The big fights are ahead, and we need to be cheerful, optimistic, and determined.