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Tag: trump approval
Donald Trump

Gallup Poll: Trump And Congressional Approval Ratings Plummet

Both President Donald Trump's and Congressional approval ratings have plummeted in the first half of December, according to a new Gallup poll.

Trump's approval rating has dipped to 39 percent, a 7 point decrease from the last Gallup survey, while Congressional satisfaction dropped 15%, the lowest rating for the 116th Congress, according to Gallup.

The president began December by ramping up political attacks while also increasing his threats to American democracy. His erratic behavior has even started to worry Trump's aides and his closest allies, leading to a "heated" Oval Office meeting with far-right conspiracists Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell. In that meeting Flynn proposed "martial law" to overturn the free and fair election that Joe Biden won by millions of votes.

Meanwhile, December was also a tumultuous month for Congress, as members bickered over a yearly defense spending bill (NDAA), a budget for FY 2021, and much needed COVID-19 relief. Late last night, right before a midnight deadline, Trump finally signed a joint bill which included COVID-19 relief and next year's budget. He also vetoed the defense bill, which Congress is expected to overturn.

Though American's moods are souring towards the current government, the Biden administration is receiving high marks for handling the transition. According to Gallup, nearly two-thirds of respondents reported they "approve" of Biden's actions during the transition.

Trump Says His Crashing Poll Ratings Are 'Very Unfair'

Trump Says His Crashing Poll Ratings Are 'Very Unfair'

A bevy of new polling over the weekend suggests Donald Trump's reelection bid in serious peril, with Joe Biden leading by an average of 7.2 percent, according to RealClearPolitics.

A CNN poll released Monday morning showed Trump at his lowest point yet, trailing Biden by a whopping 14 points. The survey — which found Trump's approval rating falling seven points — showed Biden leading Trump 55 percent to 41 percent.

The polling comes as Trump faces criticism for his response to protests against police brutality and systemic racism in the United States, which were sparked by the death of George Floyd in late May.

It also comes as more than 20 million Americans remain out of work thanks to the fallout from the coronavirus, which has now killed more than 110,000 people in the United States.

Trump made excuses about his standing in the polls, blaming his numbers of the Russia investigation and impeachment — even though Trump's campaign has said impeachment would be good for his reelection chances.

"If I wasn't constantly harassed for three years by fake and illegal investigations, Russia, Russia, Russia, and the Impeachment Hoax, I'd be up by 25 points on Sleepy Joe and the Do Nothing Democrats," Trump tweeted on Sunday night. "Very unfair, but it is what it is!!!"

Trump's standing in the polls less than five months from Election Day is bad news for him.

At this same point in the 2016 cycle, Trump trailed Hillary Clinton by 3.1%, according to the RealClearPolitics average. And in 2016, the race tightened multiple times, with Trump even taking a lead or narrowing the gap to almost 0 multiple times throughout the cycle.

This time around, however, Trump has never once led Biden in head-to-head polling, with Biden always holding at least a 4% lead over Trump.

The polling is so grim for Trump that his advisers gathered last week to try to come up with a new narrative to change the direction of the race, according to a report from Axios. But Trump has never shown a willingness to expand beyond his core base of supporters — which is not enough to win reelection as independents sharply swing toward Biden.

Any changes in messaging from the campaign are often short-lived, ended either by a Trump tweet or outburst from a media question.

Ultimately, while there are still a few months to go until voters head to the polls, election experts say Trump is in bad shape.

Nate Cohn, the elections and polling expert at the New York Times, said Biden's current polling lead is so big it "would easily withstand another 2016-sized polling error or a wide gap between the Electoral College and the nation as a whole."

And Harry Enten, a polling expert at CNN, said Trump is in worse shape than Clinton was.

"Joe Biden hits a milestone Hillary Clinton never did from June onward: 50%," Enten tweeted. "Unlike four years ago, Trump will likely need to win back voters who are already backing the Dem nominee."

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

Trump's Favorite Pollster Shows His Disapproval Rating At 57 Percent

Trump's Favorite Pollster Shows His Disapproval Rating At 57 Percent

A new tracking poll from a Republican-leaning pollster shows Donald Trump's approval rating has taken a huge hit during the coronavirus pandemic.

On Wednesday, Rasmussen Reports' Daily Presidential Tracking Poll found Trump's approval rating at just 42 percent and his disapproval rating at 57 percent. The negative 15 point margin is his worst in the survey since late 2017.

The poll was sponsored by pro-Trump activist Jack Posobiec of the far-right One American News Network.

Trump has frequently praised Rasmussen's polls, calling the company "one of the most accurate in predicting the 2016 Election" and lauding the company for its "honest polling." As recently as February 25, he tweeted that he had reached "52% in the new Rasmussen Poll."

Rasmussen itself has a distinct pro-GOP bias. After the 2016 elections, polling analyst Nate Silver noted that "the Republican lean in its polls ran pretty much wire to wire."

"It had a significant Republican house effect early in the election cycle and a significant Republican house effect late in the election, and it would up turning into a significant Republican bias on Election Day," he wrote.

In September 2018, Ipsos Public Affairs research director Mallory Newall told Hill.TV that Rasmussen's adjustment of data based on party identification tends "to be more along the partisan angle, leaning toward the Republicans."

Rasmussen has consistently shown better numbers for Trump and his allies than other major polling firms. CNN analyst Harry Enten noted after the 2018 midterms that Rasmussen's polling had been the least accurate of any firm, actually showing Republicans ahead nationally by one point before the blue wave. "The midterm elections prove that at least for now Rasmussen is dead wrong and traditional pollsters are correct," he argued.

Wednesday's Rasmussen data, by contrast, reflect the same trends as other national pollsters.

Following a brief approval boost in March, as the coronavirus was first beginning to take hold, Trump's approval tumbled. FiveThirtyEight's current average puts him at 42.6 percent approval and 53.7 percent disapproval, while RealClearPolitics puts Trump's average at 43.5 percent approval and 54.5 percent disapproval.

Trump has been criticized broadly for his botched response and downplaying the threat. Harvard Global Health Institute head Ashish Jha told Bloomberg in March that the administration wasted about two months failing to ramp up widespread coronavirus testing as the pandemic spread across the country.

Though Trump has said that he does not "take responsibility at all" for the situation, the American people have increasingly blamed him, with a Pew Research Center poll as far back as April showing at least 65 percent of U.S. adults believed he had acted "too slow" in responding to the virus.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.