Trump Approval Rating At 44 Percent Amid Shutdown, New Poll Finds
As the number of days which the partial government shutdown is in effect increases — threatening to be the longest one ever if a deal is not struck by midnight tonight, President Donald Trump’s approval ratings appear to be going down, the Hill reported.
According to a new Hill-HarrisX poll released on Friday, January 11, the president’s approval rating currently sits at 44 percent. This number is down from the 47 percent rating he attained in the previous Hill-HarrisX survey released on December 28, when the partial government shutdown had only been in effect for a week.
The newly released poll was conducted online between January 8 and January 11 among 3,015 registered voters, ultimately yielding a disapproval rating of 56 percent. The breakdown of the results showed that a majority of disapproving pollsters were women, with 62 percent of females reporting that they either “somewhat” or “strongly” currently disapprove of the president, while 49 percent of males reported the same.
Meanwhile, those between the ages of 18-34 showed the highest rate of disapproval regarding President Trump, though a majority within the three other age categories, — 35-49, 50-64 and 65 and over — all yielded a net rate of disapproval.
In what likely comes as no surprise, the survey also found that an overwhelming 87 percent of Democrats responded that they did not approve of Trump, whereas 84 percent of Republicans surveyed felt the opposite.
Poll finds Trump's approval rating at 44 percent amid shutdown. https://t.co/q7rmU7SErV pic.twitter.com/v5XoBcBJdb
— Rising (@HillTVLive) January 11, 2019
The new Hill-HarrisX poll comes amidst what is soon to be the longest partial government shutdown in the history for the United States, one which is largely due to President Trump’s campaign promises to construct a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border.
After not being able to come up with a spending bill that included the president’s demand for $5 billion to construct the wall, the government entered into partial shutdown mode on December 22, creating a tense standoff between the president and Democrats over the issue that has lasted for 21 days — and has no real end in sight.
And while the wall is the central issue at the root of the shutdown, American Enterprise Institute’s senior fellow Kaylyn H. Bowman does not think President Trump’s base will be rattled — whether or not the barrier is actually constructed.
“Your base is people who are with you when you’re wrong, when you’re right, they’re with you all the time, and that’s what his base will be,” Bowman told Hill.TV’s Jamal Simmons on What’s America Thinking on Friday.
Meanwhile, Democratic pollster Anna Greenburg told Simmons that the Democratic base has offered key cues for party leaders in their battle.
“I think Democrats will want a compromise, but I think that the wall, just like it is for Trump’s base, the wall is the symbol for all that’s wrong with Trump for Democrats,” Greenburg said.
