The following is according to Gallup
- First time under 40% for Donald Trump since October
- Approval down among all party groups
- Trump approval ratings for handling issues also down sharply
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump’s job approval rating has fallen to 39% amid nationwide protests about racial injustice. His ratings this year had been the best of his presidency but are now back near his term average of 40%.
President Donald Trump’s current 39% job approval rating is down from 49% in the prior poll and the lowest since October 2018.
The latest reading is from a May 28-June 4 poll, conducted as protests occurred throughout the country after the May 25 death of George Floyd. Floyd, a black Minneapolis man, died in police custody after a white officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.
Trump’s comments and actions in response to the protests last week, including a vow to send U.S. military troops to cities to quell violent protests, were controversial. The administration was widely criticized after police in Washington, D.C., used chemical irritants to disperse peaceful protestors from an area shortly before the president posed for photos in front of a nearby church.
The protests are occurring as the nation continues to deal with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The poll was completed before the news Friday about an unexpected drop in the unemployment rate.
The decline in approval returns the metric to a level last seen in October, shortly after the House of Representatives launched an impeachment inquiry into Trump’s dealings with the Ukraine government.
Trump’s latest job approval rating fell significantly among all party groups, and by similar margins among each. This includes drops of seven percentage points among Republicans (to 85%) and independents (to 39%), and nine points among Democrats (to 5%).
Republicans’ approval of Trump is the lowest it has been since September 2018 (also 85%).
Economic Job Approval Drops Below Majority Level
Forty-seven percent of Americans approve of President Trump’s handling of the economy, a decline from 63% in January and 58% in February. Approval of Trump’s handling of the economy had not been under 50% since November 2017, when 45% approved.
47% of Americans approve of President Trump’s handling of the economy, down from 58% in February.
President Trump’s economic approval rating has been 10 points higher than his overall job approval rating, on average, throughout his presidency in surveys in which both measures were asked. Currently, eight percentage points separate his economic approval rating and overall job approval rating.
It is unclear what impact the new unemployment numbers will have on Trump’s economic approval rating or his overall job approval rating. The drop in the unemployment rate was unexpected, though the rate remains historically high and is likely higher than reported due to errors in how workers furloughed during the coronavirus pandemic were categorized.
Americans are also increasingly critical of the president’s response to the coronavirus pandemic itself. Currently, 42% approve of the way Trump has handled the matter, down from 50% in the prior reading in late April, and 60% just after coronavirus infections spiked in many areas of the country in mid-March.
Also, 41% of U.S. adults approve of the president’s handling of foreign affairs, seven points lower than the previous measure in February. The current approval rating on foreign affairs nearly matches the 40% average approval on this issue throughout his presidency.
Implications
The year 2020 had been a more favorable one for the Trump administration than prior years, with his job approval rating reaching personal bests during two periods. The first came in late January and early February, the time spanning his Senate trial on the impeachment charges and ultimate acquittal by the Senate on Feb. 5. The second came in the spring after the coronavirus situation produced a brief rally event for the president and Congress.
Public anger over the Floyd killing and racial injustice more generally have proven to be a significant challenge for the president, in addition to the ongoing challenges for society and the economy arising from the coronavirus.
His current level of approval would make another term as president unlikely, given the historical relationship between job approval ratings and incumbent reelection. With five months to go before Election Day, there is still time for those ratings to improve and get back near the 50% level associated with incumbent reelection in the past, but also time for them to get worse and give the president even longer odds of winning a second term.
These polls are purposely misleading especially when the actual number of “Americans” is not published. In other 40% of the 574 people polled (who knows how many?) Is hardly an accurate “picture” of the opinions of all Americans. It’s hogwash. Public anger over everything this President does is in the eyes of the fake news we are subjected to on a daily basis. How President Trump is responsible for police brutality that has been around for decades is absurd. Blaming President Trump solely for “mishandling” the “pandemic” is classic Democratic crap. Where were they during the whole lockdown? NOT In SESSION. Now here they come to save the day draped in Kente cloth. Here we are having endure another Judiciary Committee headed up by Nadler to tie the hands of our Police.
Excellent point, Susan, and I agree. Even Democrat liberals were very pleased with the President’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now that things are reopening, conservatives are blaming not the President, but the Democrats, RINOs and the Left for the shut-down: a surprising many people, including most moderate people who I follow, seem to think it has all been used as yet another attempt to take him down and they aren’t having any of it.
If conservatives are down on the president, it is only because he has not been MORE forceful in taking over the blue cities and forcing them to stop allowing insurrection to take place. The continued march of the socialist Left in taking down historical statues and defacing monuments, is viewed with increasingly narrowed eyes by conservatives of all races.
A LARGE number of conservatives, like me, want to see police reforms including the removal of “qualified immunity”, severe limitations on SWAT, elimination of No-Knock warrants, and other means to assure that innocent people who are killed or injured can be compensated, and that police who injure or kill innocent people, even accidentally, are treated the same way any other citizen would be if they did the exact same thing. We also see the abuses of civil forfeiture, which should have been declared unconstitutional the instant it started. We have heartily approved the President’s work for criminal justice reform and we hope to see that continue. We sure as heck do not blame this president for the out-of-control police unions and the failure of SCOTUS to force accountability on law enforcement.
Normal people who usually vote Democrat like the things that President Trump has done, and they do not approve of the riots any more than those who vote GOP or Libertarian or Independent. .
The only way that President Trump isn’t re-elected is through the vote fraud of the Democrats. People in the working class and middle class will not vote for the party that is not only allowing American cities to burn – but that is causing it.
I agree with all of the comments that I have read but have something to add regarding the police issue. I have known several local police and some of the state police and have heard things that criminals have done to others and have been truly disgusted and alarmed. I really don’t know why anyone would want to be a police officer. They could be hurt or killed at any time. They could get accused of being to brutal even while they are trying to save someone’s life or their own. They are blamed for many thing that are out of their control and if one of them are killed most people don’t care and think well that was their job. People don’t respect the police or anything for that matter. They do whatever they want no matter who it hurts. I have also met some police that should not be in that job and should not be hired and be fired if employed. I have worked for federal government and there are many people that work there that should not be working. They do whatever they want and instead of getting fired for misconduct they get promoted. I am not talking about FBI, CIA or people that work in Congress because we already know they have many bad employees that should be fired but low level workers in IRS, Homeland, Army Corp of Eng,, CDC and several other agencies. I think the polls are very one sided and I have not ever been polled..
The same poll that had Hillary winning by a landslide. Lying polls per usual!!
Polls without footnotes of the complete sampling data are as worthless as tits on a boar hog.
SO THERE WILL BE A SECOND RIOT …MARK MY WORDS….THE OFFICER WILL NOT BE CHARGED. GO TO Sharly Atkinson PODCAST.COM ….WHY THE FLOYD CASE IS NOT SO CUT DRY……ALSO THIS IS ELECTION YEAR TRUMP WAS WINNING A LOT OF THE BLACK VOTES THE DEMOCRATS HAD TO DO SOMETHING OR LOSE A LOT OF POWER. It’s ALL pollical it is…the Resistance movement….. and they DON’T care who gets in the way OR DIES …THEY DIED FOR THE CAUSE….Their motto is “you have to break some eggs to make a omelette,.”.THIS IS ABOUT BRING BLACKS BACK TO THE DEMOCRAT PLANTATION,,, THE WERE MOVING TO THE REPUBLICAN’S….. It’s ALL ABOUT POWER AND….. IT KILLS AND THEY DON’T CARE WHO GETS IN THEIR WAY….. look at all the suffering they caused and the death of innocent people.
this piece did not mention the date the poll was done. it also did not provide detail points of who was polled: “adult people” or “likely voters.” it did not mention any breakdown of party affiliation or independent percentages.
without those specifics, the poll cannot be viewed with any credibility.
John U, I’m beginning to think you are right that a SECOND RIOT is inevitable. It’s like BLM, Antifa etc, came out of the proverbial woodwork with their highly organized protests, their, likewise, highly organized rioting, mass destruction, and looting of private property. It’s like they were “lying in wait” to pounce upon a valid reason to proceed with their continuation of overthrowing the government, after the Democratic witch hunts failed. They will only get stronger. And if we had a reliable source of information to report on the actual people involved in this unprecedented anarchy we might not be surprised to find out that the recent uptick in illegal immigration, the “caravans” to the southern border has led to our country looking eerily similar to the countries those people are fleeing. I just know politicians like Pelosi, Schiff, Nadler and Schumer, Romney, Hirono (to name a few) need to be voted out of power. I threw in Romney because people like him who pretend to be with President Trump to get (re-) elected are veritable “snakes-in-the-grass.