Trump's approval and our view of the direction of the country for July 6th
Bottom Line: This is a weekly story to get a reality/temperature check regarding what's really going on with public opinion of the President and our view of the direction of the country. First here's the high point, low point and current ratings for President Trump...
Trump's lowest ratings: 37% approval and 59% disapproval: -22% (8/4/17)
Trump highest approval ratings 45% approval and 43% disapproval (1/27/17): +2%
Trump's current ratings: 43% approval and 53% disapproval: -10%
The bad news for President Trump. He lost a point on his approval rating this week and has a double digit negative net approval rating for the first time in three weeks. The better news... We continue to see him performing best among those most likely to vote.
As has been the case for at least ten months, the more likely someone is to vote, the higher the President's overall approval rating.
With adult only samples his rating over the past week averaged: 42%
Registered voters: 42%
Likely voters: 48%
For comparison's sake President Obama's average approval rating on this date in his second year in office was 46% - three points higher than President Trump's rating but with likely voters – 45% which is three points lower. Clearly the SCOTUS nomination will be a dominant topic of conversation over the next week plus. By this time next week, we'll have an idea of how the President's pick influences his approval rating – if at all.
Looking at the direction of the country this week...
Where we stood on Inauguration Day:
Right Direction: 30%
Wrong Track: 59%
Net: -29%
Last Week:
Right Direction: 39%
Wrong Track: 52%
Net: -13%
Today:
Right Direction: 41%
Wrong Track: 53%
Net: -12%
Change: +17% under Trump & +1% over the previous update.
We're back to having over 40% optimism on the direction of the country question again this week – which on the surface might not sound like much but given the nature of this history of this question and our views of the future – it's quite good. In fact, this is the sixth best week for the overall view of the direction of the country in nearly ten years. It's notable given the oxygen used on immigration policy, etc by the administration's detractors in the media in recent weeks. It once again shows the relative relevance of mainstream news media in today's society and let's face it. With record low minority and female unemployment there's reason for optimism.