Donald Trump Approval Rating Today: Base Erodes, Majority Find Him Dishonest

Donald Trump’s approval rating today show that support in his base is eroding, and the majority of the American public finds him dishonest, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll. Donald Trump’s approval rating today shows that 37 percent of Americans approve of the work he is doing, with 56 percent saying they do not. CNN reports that this is four points lower than where Trump’s approval stood earlier in March.

As of today, Donald Trump is 63 days into his presidency, one that thus far has been clouded with scandal, controversy, and drama. The Quinnipiac University poll was taken between March 16 and March 21, with some respondents answering after FBI Director James Comey testified that the president’s campaign team is under an active federal criminal investigation for allegations of collusion with Russia.

Wiretapping claims of the president have also created much controversy in his short 63 days in office. As the Inquisitr previously reported, this week the directors of the FBI and the NSA testified in an open hearing with the House Intelligence Permanent Select Committee to say they have not found any evidence to support Trump’s claims that President Obama wiretapped Donald Trump. Some respondents in the most recent poll on the president answered the poll after these revelations.

But also plaguing this presidency is a controversial health care bill, a controversial travel ban, and according to the poll, an overwhelming sense by the majority of Americans that the president is dishonest. The Quinnipiac University poll also finds that only four in 10 Americans believe that their president cares about them. CNN reports that at the start of his presidency, 57 percent of Americans felt their president cared about them.

The economy is also a serious concern for Americans, as the Dow dropped over 230 points this week. CNN reports that the American consensus of how Donald Trump is handling the economy “now tilts negative,” with 42 percent approving of his economy work, and 48 percent saying they disapprove.

The Quinnipiac University poll talked to both Republicans and Americans, and this is where some of the sharpest dips in Donald Trump’s approval rating today are showing. The dip in his approval ratings is now extending beyond party lines, with a clear loss in points with his Republican base.

The Quinnipiac University poll was released with the caption, “Base erodes as Trump drops to new scores.”

The poll reveals that Donald Trump is losing support with Republicans, white voters, and men. It leaves him with the worst approval rating in 63 days. Men disapprove of the president at 43 percent, which is a 6 percent drop since March 7, according to Quinnipiac University. Two weeks ago, Republicans approved of him at 91 percent rating, but this has dropped to 81 percent in this new poll. Approval among white voters has dropped to 44 percent from 49 percent on March 7.

Women disapprove of Trump at 60 percent, and Trump’s disapproval among Democrats is 90 percent. Thirty-one percent of independent voters do not approve of Trump in this new poll, and 75 percent of non-white voters disapprove of Donald Trump today.

With very little time in the presidency to establish policy, and much controversy surrounding the policy he has attempted to establish, Donald Trump’s approval rating today has dropped as a result of his personal qualities. Quinnipiac University reports that his “personal qualities hit new lows.”

Sixty percent of poll respondents answered that they do not believe their president is honest. That is a five point drop from 55 percent on March 7. Fifty-five percent believe he does not have leadership skills, and 57 percent believe he does not care about average Americans.

Sixty-six percent of poll respondents say the president is not level-headed. But 66 percent also say he is a strong person, and 59 percent report that he is intelligent. Sixty-one percent of Americans believe the president does not share their values.

Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll issued a statement with the poll findings.

“Although taking a beating, he keeps on tweeting to the point where even his fiercely loyal base appears to be eroding. Most alarming for President Donald Trump, the demographic underpinnings of his support, Republicans, white voters, especially men and those without a college degree, are starting to have doubts.”

Kraig Moss attended 45 Trump rallies. But now that Trump is POTUS, Moss no longer supports him. Why? Because of #TrumpCare. #Resist pic.twitter.com/kIOLCz4JPe

— Khary Penebaker (@kharyp) March 22, 2017

As the Inquisitr reported, “Trump regrets” by Trump voters are starting to increase in daily conversation. One white male Republican and staunch former Trump supporter has gone public with his feelings about Donald Trump this week.

The Washington Post reports of Kraig Moss, a single father who has attended 45 of Donald Trump’s campaign rallies and entertained crowds with his guitar. He lost his son three years ago due to a heroin overdose and sold his business and stopped paying mortgage payments so he could attend Trump rallies in a new wave of political revolution that he believed in.

He was rewarded for his efforts by Donald Trump himself, who spoke directly to Kraig Moss and of him to the crowds in one of the political rallies.

“The biggest thing we can do for your son…we have to be able to stop it. I know what you went through. And he’s a great father. I can see it. And your son is proud of you.”

But when Kraig Moss got wind of Donald Trump’s health care proposal, he stopped being a Trump supporter. Kraig Moss thought that Donald Trump would keep his promises to repeal and replace Obamacare, but the new health care proposal was proposing to eliminate a Medicaid requirement to cover basic mental-health and addiction services in a mandate that covers nearly 1.3 million people. Moss voiced his concerns on Trump’s promise to repeal and replace Obamacare to the Washington Post.

“This bill is just the absolute opposite. I felt betrayed. I felt let down.”

The Quinnipiac University Poll on Donald Trump’s approval ratings today reveals that Kraig Moss is not alone on the issue of Trump’s honesty. A startling 73 percent of voters believe President Trump and his team make statements without evidence “very often” or “somewhat often.” Only 25 percent of voters said that Trump is more honest than his predecessors, and 48 percent say that he is less honest.

Trump’s credibility problem made it into an editorial with the Wall Street Journal this week. The Wall Street Journal is a known conservative paper owned by Rupert Murdoch, a long-time Trump supporter. But this week, the Wall Street Journal had strong words for Mr. Trump on the matter of honesty.

“Two months into his presidency, Gallup has Mr. Trump’s approval rating at 39 percent. No doubt Mr. Trump considers that fake news, but if he doesn’t show more respect for the truth, most Americans may conclude he’s a fake president.”

The Quinnipiac University favorability rating has Trump’s numbers dropping even below Gallup’s ratings last week. He has a 36 percent favorability rating in this new poll, with only 34 percent of voters saying they can trust him to do what’s right “almost all of the time.” The voters also said they trust the courts to do what is right “almost all of the time” at 52 percent. The majority of voters also have strong support for the United States intelligence community, with 51 percent of voters saying they can trust the intelligence community to do what is right “almost all of the time.”

Donald Trump’s approval rating today of 36 percent is even lower than President Nixon’s rating right after the Watergate scandal went public, when Nixon’s approval was 44 percent, according to historical data from Gallup. Nixon had a brief surge in approval in the early months of his administration. It was the spring and summer of 1973 when the Watergate scandal went public.

By August, Nixon’s approval had dropped to 31 percent. When President Nixon resigned after Congress passed two articles of impeachment, his approval rating was 24 percent.

Although he has not handled as much policy as he has scandal, Trump policy is another big problem for voters in this Quinnipiac University poll. Fifty-eight percent of voters disapprove of how he handles foreign policy, 50 percent disapprove of his work on terrorism, and 54 percent disapprove of how he is handling the federal budget. A whopping 60 percent of voters disapprove of how he is handling immigration.

The alleged wiretapping of Trump Tower was also addressed in the Quinnipiac University Poll. Last month, Donald Trump accused President Obama of illegally wiretapping him. This week, the directors of the FBI and NSA testified in a hearing that there is no evidence to support this claim.

The Quinnipiac University poll found that 70 percent of voters do not believe Donald Trump when he accuses President Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower. The wiretapping of Trump Tower came to a head again yesterday, when Congress member Devin Nunes the chairman of the committee that heard the FBI and the NSA testify over the lack of wiretapping evidence, went forward with some startling claims about wiretapping.

NBC News reports that Rep. Devin Nunes revealed yesterday that he has seen reports from the intelligence community that shows communication intercepts between members of the Trump transition team, and possibly the president himself, that were “incidentally collected” as part of a broader surveillance. An incidental collection would mean that the intercepts were looking at foreign parties, and members of the Trump team were either mentioned in the intercepts or spoken to directly.

Rep. Devin Nunes, who was a member of the Trump transition team, said the names were masked, but he can tell who the parties were by the nature of the conversation. He also expressed concern over the revelations and said he found some of them inappropriate.

“What I’ve read bothers me. And I think it should bother the president himself and his team because I think some of it seems to be inappropriate.”

Rather than taking these findings to the House Intelligence Committee of which he is the chair, as is the protocol, Devin Nunes took the information to the White House himself. Some Democrats said that is likened to a prosecutor in a criminal case taking evidence to “the accused” before bringing it to fellow prosecutors or the judge in a criminal trial.

NBC News reports that Trump felt “somewhat vindicated” upon the revelations of Devin Nune. But fellow Congress members on Devin Nune’s committee felt betrayed. Rep. Swalwell was interviewed last night on the topic and had the following to say.

“I’m still shocked. Today our chairman betrayed the independence that our committee must show during one of the most trying times in American history. He should have shared this with the intelligence committee first. He never should have shared this with a president whose campaign is under federal criminal investigation.”

"Today our Chairman betrayed the independence that our Committee must show." —Rep. Eric Swalwell on Nunes on @TheLastWord pic.twitter.com/55iQ1gE40r

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 23, 2017

The Quinnipiac University poll voters responded with an overwhelming majority of over 70 percent saying they do not believe the president was wiretapped by the previous president, and they believe the intelligence community. When divided by party, the number drops significantly, with 39 percent of Republicans saying they do not believe the president was wiretapped, while every other party “disbelieves this claim by wide margins,” according to Quinnipiac University.

Forty-two percent of voters stated they do not even believe the president himself believes this wiretapping happened. But those respondents answered the poll before yesterday’s revelations by Devin Nunes.

The Quinnipiac University Poll measuring Donald Trump’s approval rating today was conducted between March 16 and March 21 by Dr. Douglas Schwartz of 1,056 voters across the states of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Iowa, and Colorado.

[Featured Image by Evan Vucci/AP Images]