“From the outside looking in, it’s hard to understand. From the inside looking out, it’s hard to explain.” (Anonymous, 2014). 

If you have been feeling that you are on the outside of current American political events, observing with a combination of awe and disgust, you might feel very alone.

But if you are a Republican, you are discovering that it is hard to explain your support for Donald Trump to your voters.

And a brand-new Quinnipiac poll released this week only makes both positions challenge their perceptions. Republicans are largely in support of all of Trump’s various acts of extremism, while voters are finding virtually all of Trump’s actions as outside the range of reason.

 The Quinnipiac poll finds Trump’s overall rating of support to be 38 percent, down from 41 percent in an April poll. 

These are not good numbers for a new president launching their presidency on a perceived endorsement by the voters last November. 

But, for an administration guided by imagery more than substance, the imagery is not working. Marines in our streets is not an embracing portrait of America; prosecuting your political opponents and pardoning your political supporters is not a good look; and offending America’s longtime allies does not wear well with voters.

On an issue-by-issue basis in Quinnipiac polling, Republicans might want to rethink their enthusiastic support for all things Trump. Here are a few reasons to push aside the Trump true-believers bubble and save your own electability:

• On the question of your satisfaction with the way things are going in the country, 75 percent of Republicans are very or mostly satisfied, but only 31 percent of independent voters share that perception.

• On the question of the Republican Party supporting the needs and problems of people like you, 79 percent of Republicans say “Yes,” but 63 percent of independents say “No.”

• On the question of whether you want Congress to check or help Trump, 81 percent of Republicans want to do more to help Trump, while 59 percent of independents want to have Congress check the powers of the president.

• Trump fares no better on all the important issues of the day. On his signature issue, immigration, voters do not support the president’s handling by an 11 percent negative margin. On the economy, a perceived Trump strength, he is 16 percent underwater with voters; On the Israel-Hamas war, Trump is 17 percent in negative support; and on the Ukraine-Russia war, Trump’s handling of that conflict has a negative margin of 23 percent.

• On trade, deportations, and his handling of universities, Trump is approaching a nearly 20 percent  negative rating with the voters.

• On the central question of the economy, is it getting better, worse, or staying the same? 65 percent of Republicans say it is getting better, but only 25 percent  of independent voters agree with that assessment, while 52 percent  of independents see the economy as getting worse.

You might think that our Republican friends are getting the message here, that the Trump chaos is not helping them or their constituents. It is a message that voters are relaying to their Republican-elected officials in town hall meetings across the nation. 

But you would be wrong.

Republican advisors are simply telling their elected officials to stop holding town halls and meeting with their voters.

So, what happens next? 

Well, next November cannot come soon enough, as Republicans are just about ready to pass into law the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” a bill that has only 27 percent support among voters, according to the Quinnipiac poll this week.

Republicans seemed poised to ignore their own voters on issue after issue this year, following a president whose only political ideology is the deconstruction of America.

We cannot vote soon enough.

Jim Crawford is a retired educator and political enthusiast living here in the Tri-State.