What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls - Week Ending March 24, 2018

Consciously or not, President Trump’s sights fixed on East Asia this week as he tapped Ambassador John Bolton, a hawk on dealings with North Korea and Iran, to replace outgoing National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster.

In anticipation of the imposition yesterday of steel and aluminum tariffs aimed principally at China, stock markets plunged throughout the week with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipping more than 1,000 points. This week’s Rasmussen Minute takes a closer look at the high-stakes game of international tariffs and potential trade wars.

Trump on Monday announced that his administration will impose stiffer penalties, including seeking the death penalty for drug traffickers, to combat the opioid crisis fueled in part by fentanyl from China. Although Americans continue to say opioids are a problem where they live, nearly half don’t like the idea of imposing capital punishment for drug traffickers.

Combatting the opioid epidemic was a Trump campaign promise, and while voters don’t have much faith when it comes to political campaign promises, a sizable number think this president is more likely to deliver on them than most.

Trump recently promoted Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo to secretary of state following Rex Tillerson’s departure, leaving behind an agency most voters are impressed with.

But it’s tax season, so how are Americans feeling about the Internal Revenue Service these days? 

Americans have been ahead of the game on income taxes this year, and now, with just over three weeks to go until Tax Day, more than half are done. 

While questions are being increasingly raised about when Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation will end and its direction and fairness, voters think Trump should leave him alone. 

Meanwhile, members of the Congressional Black Caucus and a leader of the Women’s March are catching heat after information surfaced that they met with or appeared at events with Louis Farrakhan, a notorious anti-Semite. While a majority of voters don’t like the leader of the Nation of Islam, black voters see him in a more favorable light.

When it comes to immigration, voters want to take care of those brought here as children first, then focus on building a wall.

In other surveys last week:

-- Just over half of regular Facebook users are considering bailing out of the popular social media site over concerns about the privacy of their personal data. 

-- Americans continue to see the importance of being a teacher, even if they don’t think many want to enter the education field these days.

-- Although harsh winter nor’easters continued to threaten much of the eastern United States this week, the first day of spring arrived, and that puts a spring in the steps of most Americans.

-- Forty-one percent (41%) of voters now think the country is heading in the right direction.

Visit the Rasmussen Reports home page for the latest current polling coverage of events in the news. The page is updated several times each day.