President Trump's approval & our view of the direction of the country
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: 40% approval and 54% disapproval: -14%
President Trump’s approval rating has taken a hit over the past week just as polling is picking up in advance of the midterms. His approval dropped three points and net approval fell four. The decline wasn’t across the board however. We saw the hit come from those among the least engaged politically. The silver lining for the President is that likely voters are the ones that remain the most positive about his performance and he actually improved by a point among likely voters over last week.
- With adult only samples his rating over the past week averaged: 40%
- Registered voters: 40%
- Likely voters: 46%
For comparison's sake President Obama's average approval rating on this date in his second year in office was five points higher than President Trump's rating but with likely voters it was one point lower than President Trump.
Looking at the direction of the country this week...
Where we stood on Inauguration Day:
- Right Direction: 30%
- Wrong Track: 59%
- Net: -29%
Today:
- Right Direction: 41%
- Wrong Track: 53%
- Net: -12%
Change: +17% under Trump & +1% over a week ago
Here’s what’s interesting. There’s not a direct relationship between the President’s approval and our optimism this week. In other words, it’s probably the President’s words, rather than actions that people were turned off by. Our overall collective optimism is about as high as it’s been in nine years. It’s a classic case of whether you prefer actions or words.
Until next week...