Trump's poll numbers take a dive. How worried should the GOP be?
By Jennifer Rubin
Opinion writer
August 31 at 9:15 AM
The Post-ABC News poll taken Aug. 26 to 29 might send some tremors through the GOP. President Trump’s approval rating is down to 36 percent, matching his all-time low, and his 60 percent disapproval rating is at an all-time high. (Among registered voters, his approval rating is a smidgen higher at 38 percent.) Worse still, his approval rating among Republicans is now below 80 percent, and his support among white voters is down to 45 percent, with 51 percent who disapprove. His gender gap is enormous: 54 percent of men disapprove of his performance, while 66 percent of women do. Among independents, 59 percent disapprove of his performance.
We don’t know whether this is simply the “noise” of minor poll blips or whether the confluence of events — Paul Manafort’s conviction, Michael Cohen’s plea deal, Trump’s boorish behavior regarding the passing of national hero Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — or something else altogether has eaten away at his support.
Even on the economy, he is slightly underwater (45 percent approve, 47 percent disapprove). Certainly, the upcoming midterms have excited voters, with 65 percent saying they think it’s more important than usual to vote, 31 percent saying they feel about the same, and a mere 3 percent who say it is less important. That might be a bad thing indeed for Trump, if voters are itching to express their displeasure with him.
As for the issue of corruption, a 45 percent plurality think it has gotten worse under Trump, 39 percent say it’s about the same, and only 13 percent say it has decreased. The man who was elected to drain the swamp has managed to convince voters that it is the same or worse.
Trump likes to say he keeps his promises. But his vow to drain the swamp might be one of the most egregious broken pledges in recent history. Trump built his campaign around “Crooked Hillary,” and then launched an administration second to none in conflicts of interest, self-dealing, and convictions and plea deals by former officials and campaign aides.
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