Donald Trump Approval Rating: Trump Remains Least Popular New President Of All Time, Despite Rebound
Donald Trump saw his approval rating rebound a bit this week, but polls show that he still remains the least popular president of all time at this point of his tenure.
After weeks of controversy including the firing of FBI Director James Comey, the expanding Russia investigation, and a largely unpopular health care bill tied closely to Trump, the president’s approval rating slipped to unprecedented levels. A poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal this week showed that Trump’s approval rating is at 40 percent while 55 percent disapprove, which NBC News noted is a historic low for a new president.
The poll found that Trump’s popularity is almost solely among Republican voters, with Democrats giving a 90 percent disapproval mark and independents at 63 percent disapproval. Even among Republicans — which approve of Trump’s performance by a rate of 82 percent — have a relatively high 13 percent disapproval rating.
Trump’s approval ratings could stand to rise if he were to focus more on leading than getting into spats on Twitter, one polling expert told NBC News.
“The vast majority of the public has not been moved in a significant way off of their impressions of Trump from the beginning of his presidency,” said Democratic pollster Fred Yang, who worked with Republican pollster Bill McInturff to conduct the poll.
“If President Trump and his team could get to the hard work of producing results rather than winning the Twitter war right now, the survey suggests he still has an opportunity to improve his standing with the public.”
But other polls show that the Trump approval rating is even lower. The Gallup tracking poll Friday showed that 42 percent of voters approve of Trump versus 54 percent who disapprove. That is actually an improvement from earlier in the week when Trump’s approval rating dipped to 37 percent. The president’s lowest mark on the Gallup poll was 35 percent, which came in late March, Newsweek reported.
Another poll from CBS News pegged Trump at 36 percent approval rating.
CBS NEWS POLL: At 36%, Pres. Trump's approval rating is now his lowest in CBS News Polls since becoming president https://t.co/Q2HD59mF6z pic.twitter.com/2hRuByHNIu
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 20, 2017
NEW POLL: Russia investigation drags Trump approval rating down to new low https://t.co/Mu54Yph4vD pic.twitter.com/sKY9IZ6fLi
— The Hill (@thehill) June 20, 2017
There has also been a sharp drop among voters who say they strongly approve of the job Donald Trump is doing as president, which FiveThirtyEight noted shows erosion of Trump’s strongest base.
There is still a chance that Trump may see his approval rating drop even more. Republicans in the Senate just released their version of a healthcare bill as they aim to follow through on the campaign promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, and the last two times the House brought up healthcare it resulted in a sharp drop in Trump’s approval rating. It is not yet clear if Republicans in the Senate will have the votes necessary to pass the bill, but Trump’s approval rating could once again be the casualty of the health care fight.
[Featured Image by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]
