The big story these days is Donald Trump’s firing of FBI head James Comey. But the conservative Washington Examiner notes that a new poll shows that Trump’s approval rating was already diving before the event. Considering Trump’s reactive nature, the poll, itself, may have been one impetus for the firing.
Trump has had historically low favorability ratings, but a near record low preceded the Comey firing.
The new Quinnipiac survey falls well within the lower range at minus-22 points — but what’s more important is that it’s ticked downward six points from the university polling outfit’s survey three weeks earlier. The new survey, nearly all of which was conducted before FBI director James Comey’s firing, shows Trump’s approval dropping into the mid-30s, although not quite as low as it was in early April (35 percent).
At 36 percent approve and 58 percent disapprove, Trump’s net approval is tied for its worst yet in Quinnipiac’s reckoning since his inauguration. And because the five-day poll ended yesterday, the Comey situation hasn’t really filtered into the numbers yet one way or the other.
The new Quinnipiac survey falls well within the lower range at minus-22 points — but what’s more important is that it’s ticked downward six points from the university polling outfit’s survey three weeks earlier. The new survey, nearly all of which was conducted before FBI director James Comey’s firing, shows Trump’s approval dropping into the mid-30s, although not quite as low as it was in early April (35 percent).
At 36 percent approve and 58 percent disapprove, Trump’s net approval is tied for its worst yet in Quinnipiac’s reckoning since his inauguration. And because the five-day poll ended yesterday, the Comey situation hasn’t really filtered into the numbers yet one way or the other.
However, the Examiner went on to say that Trump’s unpopularity may not have an impact on the 2018 election.
We just saw other Republican candidates outperform his numbers in many of the places where he’s least popular — the House GOP actually won the national popular vote for Congress by 1.4 million, whereas Trump lost the popular vote for president by about 2.9 million.
The most striking thing about the poll was that it asked for one-word descriptions of Trump.
One of the more amusing results in this poll comes in the form of the one-word reaction question: “What is the first word that comes to mind when you think of Donald Trump?” This month’s most popular responses, by number of people who uttered them out of the 1,078 voters surveyed nationwide:
idiot: 39
incompetent: 31
liar: 30
leader: 25
unqualified: 25
president: 22
strong: 21
businessman: 18
ignorant: 16
egotistical: 15
asshole: 13
stupid: 13
arrogant: 12
trying: 12
bully: 11
business: 11
narcissist: 11
successful: 11
disgusting: 10
great: 10
The entire poll results are here.
The president is losing support among independent voters and groups which are important parts of his base. Approval ratings are:
Negative 29 – 63 percent among independent voters, down from a negative 38 – 56 percent April 19;
A split among white voters with no college degree, as 47 percent approve and 46 percent disapprove, compared to a 57 – 38 percent approval April 19;
White men go from a 53 – 41 percent approval April 19 to a split today with 48 percent approving and 46 percent disapproving.American voters’ opinions of several of Trump’s personal qualities are down:
61 – 33 percent that he is not honest, compared to 58 – 37 percent April 19;
56 – 41 percent that he does not have good leadership skills, little change;
59 – 38 percent that he does not care about average Americans, compared to 57 – 42 percent April 19;
66 – 29 percent that he is not level-headed, compared to 63 – 33 percent last month;
62 – 35 percent that he is a strong person, little change;
56 – 41 percent that he is intelligent, compared to 58 – 38 percent;
64 – 32 percent that he does not share their values, compared to 61 – 35 percent.“There is no way to spin or sugarcoat these sagging numbers,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
“The erosion of white men, white voters without college degrees and independent voters, the declaration by voters that President Donald Trump’s first 100 days were mainly a failure and deepening concerns about Trump’s honesty, intelligence and level headedness are red flags that the administration simply can’t brush away,” Malloy added.
