Nov 21, 2016 By J.D. Prose jprose@calkins.Com 3 min read

A new post-election poll illustrates the deep divide in reactions to Republican Donald Trump’s victory, and another shows that voters do not want his children involved in White House action or know much about a controversial staff appointment.

Nearly three-fourths of voters, 73 percent, surveyed by the Pew Research Center said they were surprised by Trump’s Electoral College win over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Of course, more Clinton supporters, 87 percent, were surprised by the results compared to 60 percent of Trump backers.

Trump’s election has fueled protests across the country as Clinton’s popular vote lead has grown to 1.7 million in continued tallying. Unless Electoral College voters stun the world, however, those results will not change the outcome that gave Trump a 306-232 electoral win.

Pew’s survey results clearly show the gulf that exists between voters on both sides. While 96 percent of Trump voters said they are hopeful and 74 percent said proud, 90 percent of Clinton supporters said they are uneasy, 77 percent said sad and 76 percent are scared.

Only 7 percent of Clinton voters said they are hopeful, while 1 percent said they are proud and 62 percent described themselves as angry. With Trump voters, 13 percent said they are uneasy, 5 percent said scared, 4 percent said sad and 1 percent answered angry.

Among Clinton voters, 58 percent said they are willing to give Trump a chance to see how he governs, while 39 percent said they are not “because of the kind of person he has shown himself to be.”

That ideological divide was also evident when voters were asked about their expectations of Trump on certain issues. For example, 70 percent of Trump supporters said they have a “great deal” of confidence in how he will handle the economy compared to a paltry 3 percent of Clinton voters.

Overall, 50 percent of voters said they are happy that Trump won while 48 percent said they are unhappy. That compares to 2012 when 52 percent of voters said they were happy that President Barack Obama won re-election.

When it comes to a Trump White House, a Morning Consult/Politico poll showed that most Americans do not want his adult children to have roles in the administration and that a plurality do not have an opinion on a Trump appointment that has ignited a furor.

Fifty-nine percent of respondents said that Trump’s children should not have a role in his administration with 31 percent saying they should. The same percentage said that Trump’s family members should not receive top-secret security clearances.

Although Trump’s appointment of former Breitbart News editor Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist has drawn the ire of critics, calling Bannon a white nationalist and anti-Semite, the survey showed that 45 percent of voters did not know enough about Bannon to have an opinion or had no opinion of him while 35 percent said he was a “weak choice” and 20 percent said he was a “strong choice.”

Trump’s popularity has increased since the election, though it still falls under a majority. Thirty-seven percent of voters in a Morning Consult/Politico poll had a favorable view of Trump before the election, but that has crept up to 46 percent since Nov. 8.

On the other hand, Trump’s unfavorable rating pre-election was 61 percent and that has dropped to 46 percent, too, the poll found.