53 percent disapprove of White House East Wing demolition: Survey
A majority of Americans said in a new poll they disapprove of President Trump’s plans to demolish part of the East Wing in the White House to make room for his $250 million ballroom.
In the YouGov America poll, released on Wednesday, 53 percent of Americans said they strongly or somewhat disapprove “of the decision to demolish part of the East Wing of the White House as part of the renovations,” while 24 percent approved and 24 percent said they are unsure.
The question follows up on a separate one about “plans to renovate and build additions to the White House, including a new ballroom and a patio in the Rose Garden” — 50 percent said they disapprove of the plans, 33 percent said they approved, and 17 percent said they are not sure.
The survey was conducted on Tuesday, a day after construction began on the $300 million ballroom, precipitating an onslaught of viral images, as many Democrats accused the president of “destroying” the White House.
In the survey, 77 percent of Democrats said they disapproved of both the plans to renovate the White House,and the plans to demolish parts of it to make room for the changes.
Fourteen percent of the party said they approved of the renovations, while 9 percent said they’re not sure; 10 percent said they approved of the demolition, while 13 percent said they are unsure.
Trump has defended plans to demolish the East Wing, saying on Wednesday that “in order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure.”
Initially, Trump said the ballroom’s construction would not “interfere with the current building,” but on Wednesday he said conversations with architects led to the decision to knock down the East Wing.
“It was never thought of as being much,” Trump said of the East Wing. “It was a very small building.”
A plurality of Republicans — 45 percent — backed the president’s plans to demolish the East Wing as part of the renovations, but approval is not universal: 28 percent disapproved and 27 percent said they are unsure whether they approve of the demolition plans.
The party is more inclined to back the renovations overall, before being asked specifically about the demolition: 63 percent approved of the renovation plans, 18 percent disapproved, and 19 percent were unsure.
Independents are more closely aligned with Democrats on the issue. A majority disapproved of both the renovations and plans to demolish parts of the East Wing to make room for the additions: at 55 percent and 54 percent, respectively.
Among independents, 22 percent approved of the renovations, while 23 percent were unsure; only 16 percent approved of the demolition, while 30 percent said they are not sure.
The survey, conducted on Oct. 21, included 2,038 adults and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.