Trump Approval Rating Drops As Some Of His Own Voters Find Him ‘Suspect’ And A ‘Liar’
A Pew Research Center poll out yesterday has Donald Trump’s approval rating sinking again to 34 percent. The poll rated Donald Trump’s job performance, with 59 percent disapproving of his job performance. Even worse for Donald Trump, in a week where indictments and a guilty plea came down on his campaign advisers, his own voters are expressing their disappointment to the president on Twitter, calling him “suspect” and a “liar.”
One voter also accused Donald Trump of obstruction. Another Donald Trump voter expressed concerns over possibly having voted for Russian President Vladimir Putin when they cast their vote for Donald Trump.
But the polls this week show that it is job performance that is having the greatest impact on the widespread public perception of the American president on both sides of the aisle, and not the Russia scandal plaguing the current Republican White House. Donald Trump is not doing his job, and Americans from both major parties are upset about that, according to this week’s polling data.
Americans are also displeased with how Republicans are doing their jobs, as approval ratings for Republicans in Congress drop even lower than Donald Trump’s. The Pew Research poll showed that only 22 percent polled believe Republicans in Congress are doing a good job, and that’s down 12 points from February.
Only 25 percent of Americans “strongly approve” of Trump’s job performance, while 51 percent strongly disapprove. Only 38 percent approve of Trump’s ability to handle an international crisis, which is down nine points from six months ago. Sixty percent of respondents also said they were “not at all confident” Trump could handle an international problem.
Health care, tax reform, and Trump’s Twitter usage are the issues that appear to bother Americans the most, including Trump’s own base. While he will always have a base, it shrinks consistently with his consistently low approval ratings.
Even worse news for Trump, as the Inquisitr previously reported, Trump’s approval rating is dropping today while support for a Trump impeachment is on the rise. The number of Americans who want Trump impeached is almost a majority, at 49 percent this week, according to a Public Policy Poll.
Dean Debnam, President of the Public Policy Polling, said the following on this week’s numbers.
“Basically everything we poll on a monthly basis is at a record low point for Trump right now. His approval rating, the number of voters who want to impeach him, his position against Democrats for 2020, and his hold over the Republican Party have never been weaker than we found in this month’s national survey.”
Also in this poll, 49 percent called Trump the worst president in history, and 54 percent wish Barack Obama was still president while 48 percent wish Hillary Clinton was president. Honesty was an issue that relates to Trump’s approval rating, with only 37 percent polled saying they think he is an honest person. Sixty percent of voters polled want Donald Trump to release his tax returns.
Public Policy Polling reports that their poll indicates that when it comes to what is ahead in 2020, Donald Trump is already seriously lagging behind top Democrats expected to make a bid. Donald Trump trails former Vice President Joe Biden by 18 points, Bernie Sanders by 15 points, and Elizabeth Warren by 10 points.
Honesty problems are impacting Donald Trump’s approval rating today more than even the Russia scandal plaguing the White House. Remarkable data from the Public Policy report also shows that most Republicans think Donald Trump should still stay in the White House, even if the Trump-Russia collusion story is true.
Seventy-five percent of Republicans think there is nothing to the Russia collusion story. Additionally, 79 percent think that if it’s true Trump should still stay in office. Eleven percent of Trump’s own supporters, however, do think he should step down if Russia collusion is proven by the special prosecutor’s office of Robert Mueller.
Donald Trump’s approval rating today is also as many as 20 points below the approval rating for Robert Mueller. The Washington Post reports that the public across both sides of the aisle approve of Robert Mueller and his investigation, at 58 percent, in a Washington Post-ABC poll last week. That poll also revealed that 49 percent of Americans believe Donald Trump has committed a crime.
In that poll, 51 percent of Americans also believe that Trump is not cooperating with the Robert Mueller investigation. Fifty-seven percent of Republicans approve of the indictments and guilty plea of Trump cohorts Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, and George Papadopoulos.
The Washington Post-ABC poll also found that if presidential pardons are issued by Trump to any of his cohorts indicted or convicted through the Russia probe, voters would react negatively. A majority of voters polled would even find that grounds for impeachment.
The news gets grimmer for Trump with the indictments and guilty plea seen this week. A majority of voters polled at 53 percent believe crimes or wrongdoings in the Trump camp go beyond the three that were indicted or convicted this week.
As the Washington Post notes, this data reflects a notion that Trump could find it “difficult if not impossible” to fire special prosecutor Robert Mueller in an effort to shut down the investigation. This puts Trump in a tenuous position, as the fate of his presidency could very well be in Robert Mueller’s hands. Many voters polled believe that it is.
This could explain the erratic nature of some of Donald Trump’s tweets this week.
As Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were being indicted, Donald Trump went on a tweet rant that ended with, “Also, there is NO COLLUSION.”
But news had not yet broken that former campaign staffer and foreign policy adviser for Trump, George Papadopoulos, had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about Russian matters. Not only was it revealed that Papadopoulos pleaded guilty, but that he was “proactively cooperating” with the federal agencies involved in the investigation.
When that news broke, Donald Trump’s Twitter went silent for almost 24 hours, after which he began tweeting that George Papadopoulos was a low-level staffer. Donald Trump has also said that he can’t remember if he has met him or not, but also had a photo on his Instagram of a Trump campaign meeting that included both Jeff Sessions and George Papadopoulos, identifying them as members of his national security team.
Whether Donald Trump will attempt to fire Robert Mueller remains to be seen. Legally speaking, he cannot, as Robert Mueller’s work falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice and Judicial Branch of government, and not the executive branch.
It would be only Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who could authorize a termination of Robert Mueller’s duties. But that does not mean Donald Trump will not try to fire Robert Mueller, and the topic has been a source of great speculation even at the level of Congress.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has said that if Donald Trump were to fire Robert Mueller without cause, “holy hell” would break loose. He’s also said it would be the end of Donald Trump’s presidency.
As such, Senator Graham has sponsored a bill that would require a panel of three judges to review any possible firing of Donald Trump. Senator Graham also says that were Robert Mueller to be fired, Congress would simply act to ensure a new special prosecutor was put in his place. It would not end the Russia probe. Watch Senator Graham’s comments on that here.
This week’s polling data reveals that not only is Donald Trump’s approval rating today sinking, but his base is shrinking as well. While he will always maintain some supporters, many voters are turning according to tweets sent directly to Donald Trump recently. One said the following in June.
Other Donald Trump voters are beginning to talk back to him about his tweeting. One even called him “suspect” and a “liar.” Others asked him to stop tweeting, as many have been doing for months.
Another of Trump’s voters expressed concern that they voted for Russian President Vladimir Putin instead of Donald Trump.
“I voted for you and now I realize I voted for Putin. You may skate but in my heart, I know you sold us out for Russia.”
What we have learned about Donald Trump’s approval rating today is that as it sinks, so does the faith in him from his supporters, as calls for a Trump impeachment rise from all voters. But still, Republicans who favor a Trump impeachment say it’s his overall job performance they are most unhappy with, despite the Russia probe. That means that if the Russia probe were removed from the equation, Donald Trump’s presidency would still be in trouble.
[Feature Image by Alex Brandon/AP Images]
