"Many Americans who otherwise dislike President-elect Donald J. Trump share his bleak assessment of the country’s problems and support some of his most contentious prescriptions to fix them..."

"... according to a new poll from The New York Times and Ipsos. A little more than half of the country expresses some desire to see Mr. Trump follow through with his harshest threat to deal with illegal immigration: deporting everyone living in the United States without authorization. The poll, which surveyed 2,128 adults from Jan. 2 to 10, found that 55 percent of Americans either strongly or somewhat support such mass deportations.... 46 percent say that trade with foreign nations should be subject to increased tariffs. And a large majority is sympathetic to efforts to strictly limit how doctors can treat children struggling with their gender identity.... Seventy-one percent said that no one under 18 should be prescribed puberty-blocking drugs or hormones.... For a political figure so divisive — Americans view him more negatively than any other president about to take office in the last 70 years — the level of support for his ideas is striking...."

From "Support for Trump’s Policies Exceeds Support for Trump/A new poll found the public is sympathetic to the president-elect’s plans to deport migrants and reduce America’s presence overseas" (NYT).

Here's how I would venture to explain that discrepancy: People like to think of themselves as nice — kind and empathetic — but they also know — or believe — that some hard actions need to be taken. There's that tough man over there. Ooh, I don't like him.