Oct 6, 2018

Majority of Americans agree that Trump stands up for his beliefs

Photo: Sean Rayford/Getty Images

While President Trump gets low marks from Americans on his temperament, trustworthiness, and leadership, 68% of Americans agree that he stands up for what he believes in, according to a new Pew Research survey.

Why it matters: Trump's refusal to compromise or back down on things he's passionate about is one of the most attractive qualities to his supporters. Broken down along party lines, 91% of Republicans say he stands up for what he believes in, along with 52% of Democrats.

More from the survey:

34% of Americans say the word "trustworthy" applies to Trump, which is a smaller percentage than Presidents Obama and Bush during their midterms.
61% of people say the phrase "cares about people like me" does not apply to Trump.
Per Pew, "partisan gaps on trustworthiness, leadership and empathy also are at least as wide as any seen in midterm years since 1994."

One more thing: The majority of Republicans (57%) say GOP lawmakers are not obligated to support Trump's policies if they don't agree with him.

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Axios

Bernie Sanders wins Nevada caucus

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders waves to supporters at a campaign rally on Friday in Las Vegas. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Sen. Bernie Sanders is projected to handily win the Nevada Democratic primary caucus, becoming the clear frontrunner among 2020 Democratic presidential primary election candidates.

Why it matters: Nevada is the first state with a diverse population to hold a nominating contest, highlighting candidates' abilities to connect with voters of color — particularly Latino voters.

Go deeperUpdated 42 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Axios

South Korea and Italy see spikes in coronavirus cases

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens.

The novel coronavirus has spread to more nations, and the U.S. reports a doubling of its confirmed cases to 34 — while noting these are mostly due to repatriated citizens, emphasizing there's no "community spread" yet in the United States.

The big picture: COVID-19 has now killed at least 2,362 people and infected more than 77,000 others, mostly in mainland China. New countries to announce infections recently include Israel and Lebanon, while Iran reported its sixth death from the virus. South Korea's confirmed cases jumped from 204 Friday to 433 on Saturday and Italy's case count rose from 3 to 62 by Saturday.

Go deeperUpdated 2 hours ago - Health

Rashaan Ayesh

America's rundown roads add to farmers' struggles

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

American farmers are struggling to safely use the roads that cut through their fields; decades of neglect and lack of funding have made the routes dangerous.

The big picture: President Trump has long promised to invest billions in rural infrastructure, and his latest proposal would allocate $1 trillion for such projects. Rural America, where many of Trump's supporters live, would see a large chunk of that money.

Go deeper7 hours ago - Economy & Business