Donald Trump Approval Rating Polls Dip Down Again After Putin Meeting Fiasco Turns Off 50 Percent Of Americans

A combined average of all major polls shows that the Donald Trump approval rating took a slight dip from last week, with Trump’s widely-panned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday — in which Trump appeared subservient to the Russian strongman and continued to take Putin’s word that Russia did not attack the 2016 presidential election over the detailed assessment of United States intelligence agencies, as the Inquisitr reported — proving unpopular with most Americans, despite strong Republican support for Trump’s strange relationship with Putin.

According to the data site FiveThirtyEight.com which compiles a running, statistically weighted average of dozens of regular polls, Trump’s average approval rating as of Saturday, July 21, stood at 41.7 percent. That’s down somewhat from seven days earlier when Trump held an even 42 percent approval rating.

At the same time, according to the polling average, the majority of Americans who actively disapprove of Trump remained mostly stable, dropping by just one-tenth of a percentage point from 53 percent last week to 52.9 perfect on July 21.

The meeting with Putin, apparently, had little effect on Trump’s overall approval — even though according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll, only 33 percent of Americans say that they approved of the way Trump handled his Putin confab. But half, 50 percent, said that they disapproved of Trump’s handling of the so-called summit meeting.

A CBS News poll showed even heavier disapproval of how Trump handled the Putin meeting, with 55 percent giving Trump’s behavior at the meeting in Helsinki, Finland, a thumbs-down — while 32 percent sat they approved of Trump’s interactions with Putin.

But the same poll showed overwhelming support for Trump’s handling of the Putin meeting among Republicans, with 68 percent giving the meeting their approval compared to just eight percent of Democrats. The poll also showed that only 51 percent of Republicans said that they believed the United States intelligence agencies’ assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, and 42 percent said that simply did not believe what U.S. intelligence analysts believe about the Russian interference.

Democrats, predictably, were far more likely to accept the intelligence agency findings, with 89 percent agreeing that Russia interfered in the election, and only eight percent of Democrats disbelieving the intelligence agencies’ assessments.

According to a Washington Post analysis, the poll results displaying a sharp difference between Democrats and Republicans on Trump’s overall approval and even on matters of fact such a Russian interference, show that opinions of Trump have “hardened” among voters.

“While Trump was judged critically for his summit performance, the event has not at this time proved to be a significant turning point in his presidency, despite the sharp criticism he received in the hours and days after the meeting,” wrote The Post. “Major events like Helsinki produce only modest changes in his overall standing, if any.”

In part, the support for Trump among his base may be driven by a steady stream of media articles interviewing Trump supporters who say that they continue to support Trump no matter what, according to an analysis by author Noah Berlatsky, writing for The Huffington Post this week.

“These kinds of articles make Trump look invulnerable, which makes him more difficult to resist. Instead, we need coverage that emphasizes Trump’s real unpopularity and weakness,” Berlatsky wrote. “After all, if bragging about sexual assault, praising neo-Nazis and siding with Putin over his own intelligence agencies won’t stop Trump, what will?”