A new poll shows that support for President Donald Trump has dropped significantly over the past month. Not only has there been a notable decline in support for the current president, but it appears that the drop has come from some key groups within the president’s base.
NPR breaks down the details from this newly-released poll. They share that the numbers come from the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour /Marist survey, and it shows President Trump sitting at an approval rating of 39 percent. In comparison, this same polling resource showed the president with an approval rating of 42 percent in December.
The same poll shows a current disapproval rating of 53 percent, versus 49 percent in December. This represents a 7-point net shift in approval versus disapproval from December to this latest set of data points.
In breaking down the numbers, NPR notes that Trump’s approval dropped substantially among suburban men. This key group within the president’s base slid from 51 percent approval down to 42 percent. Another substantial drop came among white evangelicals. In December, Trump had a 73-to-17 percent approval rating. Now it sits at 66-to-23.
An additional key demographic showing a slide is among white men without a college degree. Previously 56 percent within that group approved of Trump, but now that’s down to 50 percent.
The biggest drop in support appears to come from white women who do not have a college degree. In December, 54 percent of those polls approved of Trump — with 34 percent disapproving. That gave Trump a 20 point positive net rating. Now, however, just 43 percent approve — and 47 percent disapprove — for a negative 4-point net rating, a shift of 24 points in just the last month.
Support for President Trump is down among key parts of his base –– including suburban men, white evangelicals, Republicans and white men without a college degree, a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds. https://t.co/ERbi3mfvD7
— NPR (@NPR) January 17, 2019
Trump has repeatedly touted his strong ratings from those who identify as Republicans. However, those percentages have slid in this new poll, too. While Trump had been sitting at 90 percent approval in December, that’s dropped 7 points — and now sits at 83 percent.
According to the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, the entity that did the poll, it’s unclear at this point whether these drops are specifically due to the partial government shutdown — or if they may be signaling a bigger problem for Trump’s popularity. Director Lee Miringoff noted that “For the first time, we saw a fairly consistent pattern of having his base showing evidence of a cracking.”
Also notable is that this latest polling signals that just 30 percent of registered voters respond that they will “definitely” vote for the president in 2020. At this point, 57 percent say that they will vote against Trump.
Will these polling trends turn around once the partial government shutdown ends — or do these trends signal an ongoing problematic shift for President Donald Trump? This has been a week jam-packed with headlines about the president, the shutdown, and the Mueller investigation, and people will be curious to see how all of this chaos impacts future polling.
