Poll: Donald Trump’s Approval Ratings Fall To 37 Percent Since ‘Fire And Fury’ Release
President Donald Trump’s approval ratings have dipped to just 37 percent in the wake of the publication of the new book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.
According to a new Gallup poll, Trump’s approvals slipped by two points over the first week of 2018, which coincides with the release of author Michael Wolff’s work critical of Trump and his administration.
In an end of the year poll, Trump’s approvals had climbed to 39 percent, his highest Gallup marks in months of polling.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is quoted as being critical of Trump and his family throughout several passages of Fire and Fury, and its release has instantly created a rift between him and Trump, with the president drastically seeking to diminish Bannon’s role in his rise.
Trump has also blasted Wolff as a “fraud” and his book as “fake.”
In response to questions raised about his fitness for office, Trump has also defended his mental stability, deeming himself a “very stable genius.”
Gallup’s final 2017 poll found Trump’s approvals had ticked up ever so slightly after Republicans proved successful in ramming through a GOP sponsored tax plan that represented the administration’s first major piece of legislation to pass through Congress.
Gallup noted the 39 percent rating represented a six-point drop from where Trump kicked off his presidency back in January. For the year, Trump averaged just a 39 percent approval rating.
Trump’s latest slippage doesn’t come as much of a surprise to many, given a recent NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll that found just 24 percent of Americans backed his tax plan and believed it to be a good idea.
Meanwhile, Team Trump is hard at work doing everything it can to improve his numbers.
The Donald Trump “Inaugural Year Approval Poll” recently came under fire by critics who belittled it for building in safeguards that make it virtually impossible for voters to express any dissatisfaction with Trump’s job performance.
Set up by the joint fundraising committee of Trump’s reelection campaign and Republican National Committee, the survey offered respondents no opportunity to give a negative review of Trump’s first 12 months in office.
More specifically, to the question of “how would you rate President Trump’s first year in office,” the question only offers the options of “great,” “good,” “okay,” and “other.”
By comparison, visitors to the page are also asked the same question about Trump predecessor, former President Barack Obama, with the answer options in that instance readily offering the choice of “poor” as an additional response option.
Based on recent polling numbers, Trump supporters might have good reason to perhaps seek to fudge the numbers as much as they’re able to in the name of trying to make sure the president doesn’t look bad in a poll created by those who remain as some of his biggest backers.
A recent Associated Press-NORC poll found that Trump is the most unpopular first-year president ever, garnering just 32 percent approval for his job performance.
With a disapproval rating of 67 percent, more than half of Trump’s critics added they “strongly disapprove” of his job performance in the White House.
In addition, seven in 10 respondents, or 70 percent of voters, said they believe the country is “headed in the wrong direction.”
