Trump’s Agenda Carries Weight With GOP Voters

Jan. 07--ONETIME Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, in a column in The Washington Post, recently said President Trump "has not risen to the mantle of the office." While Romney criticized Trump's character, what's notable is he felt compelled to align himself with Trump's policy agenda.

"It is not that all of the president's policies have been misguided," Romney wrote. "He was right to align U.S. corporate taxes with those of global competitors, to strip out excessive regulations, to crack down on China's unfair trade practices, to reform criminal justice and to appoint conservative judges. These are policies mainstream Republicans have promoted for years."

In other words, in a perfect world as imagined by Romney with another president, the Trump policy agenda would still be front and center. That's no small thing. But the reason Romney felt the need to stress agreement with Trump's policies is because they align with most conservatives.

In 2016, many conservative voters had qualms about voting for Trump, because of his personal flaws and crassness and concerns he wouldn't follow through on his promised policy agenda. But he has followed through.

Regarding Romney's broadside, Daniel Henninger, deputy editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page, noted, "By any conservative standard, Mr. Trump's first year should be regarded as successful: a significant reduction in business taxation, radical deregulation of the U.S. economy, the Neil Gorsuch Supreme Court nomination and withdrawal from the quixotic Paris climate accord."

Henninger added, "Pop quiz: How many of Mr. Trump's primary opponents -- or a President Romney, for that matter -- would have done all of that?"

Many Republican voters appear to hold similar thoughts. Trump's willingness to follow through on policy issues where other GOP leaders might have faltered has won him strong support. A November Quinnipiac University poll found 82 percent of Republicans said Trump has good leadership skills, 92 percent said he was intelligent and 80 percent agreed he "shares your values."

In stressing the need for "honesty and integrity" in politics, the importance of elevating debates "with comity and mutual respect," and the need for U.S. global leadership, Romney raised points with which we agree. We have criticized Trump's rhetorical excesses.

Still, while Romney is a man of well-known decency, that didn't keep Democrats from attacking him as a heartless corporate raider and sexist during his 2012 presidential campaign. And many conservatives question whether Romney or other Trump critics would stick to their guns on policy.

In measuring Trump's character, Republican voters reasonably consider things like a porn star signing a nondisclosure agreement about an alleged dalliance with Trump. But keeping one's promises counts with those voters, too.

Concerns about Trump the man have been known for years. His willingness to enact conservative policies in the face of fierce liberal opposition is a more recent development. Although critics may not like it, many GOP voters put more weight on the latter than the former.

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