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Gallup: Americans believe Trump, House will bump heads often

By Clyde Hughes
President Donald Trump crosses the South Lawn with first lady Melania Trump and their son, Barron Trump, after returning to the White House from a Thanksgiving weekend vacation at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. on Sunday. Photo by Zach Gibson/UPI
President Donald Trump crosses the South Lawn with first lady Melania Trump and their son, Barron Trump, after returning to the White House from a Thanksgiving weekend vacation at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. on Sunday. Photo by Zach Gibson/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Americans are not holding out hope that Republican President Donald Trump and the new Democratic House of Representatives will find some common ground come January, according to a new Gallup poll released Monday.

The poll was conducted Nov. 13-18, a week after the Democrats captured almost 40 seats from the Republicans to take control of the House next year.

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Some 33 percent of participants said they believed Trump and the Democrats would play ball a "great deal/fair amount of the time," significantly fewer Americans than when the same question was asked in 2006 when Democrats gained control of the House when Republican George W. Bush was president.

At that time, 52 percent of Americans polled by Gallup believed that Bush would cooperate with a Democratic-led House.

Some 64 percent of Americans said they believed Trump and the Democrats would not get along at all or not much, including 70 percent of Democrats. Some 61 percent of Republicans said they believed Trump would cooperate with Democrats.

"Like Barack Obama and Bill Clinton before him, Trump enjoyed his first two years in office with both houses of Congress controlled by his own party, but will begin his third year with a divided government," Gallup said in a statement about the poll.

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"That will undoubtedly make it harder for him to accomplish his agenda, while also facing the likelihood of increased congressional oversight of his administration's actions. Perhaps because he did not need to rely on Democratic votes to advance his favored policies, Trump has made little effort to work with Democrats the past two years."

The Democrats are likely to launch inquiries about Trump's personal finances and the Trump Organization, along with raising potential questions about the involvement of his family members like Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner, and sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.

Trump has spent the past several months demonizing Democrats on the campaign trail and on social media, calling them soft on national security, accusing them of encouraging a caravan of Central American migrants to come to the United States illegally and wanting to raise taxes.

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