Whenever there is a discussion about President Trump’s poor poll numbers, his supporters tend to shout, “Yeah those election polls were right, weren’t they?” It’s a silly rejoinder because the national polls were in fact, right. The RealClearPolitics average for Hillary Clinton on election day was +3.2 percent. She won the popular vote by +2.1 percent, well within the margin of error.
If people want to argue about state polls, by all means, go ahead and do that. It’s a separate discussion worth having. But casually dismissing Trump’s awful job approval poll numbers by pointing to his electoral vote win is silly.
The latest bad news comes from a Washington Post/ABC News poll:
A majority of Americans say President Trump has not accomplished much during his first nine months in office and they have delivered a report card that is far harsher even than the tepid expectations they set for his tenure when he was sworn into office, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News survey.
Approaching the first anniversary of his victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, Trump has an approval rating demonstrably lower than any previous chief executive at this point in his presidency over seven decades of polling. Fewer than 4 in 10 Americans — 37 percent — say they approve of the way he is handling his job.
37 percent. The most recent Gallup tracking number is 39 percent. CBS, 39 percent. Pew, 34 percent. NBC, 38 percent. Fox, 38 percent.
Do you sense a pattern here? It doesn’t get better:
Meanwhile, 65 percent say he has accomplished “not much” or “little or nothing.” This is up from 56 percent last spring. Forty-three percent of all Americans give him the lowest possible rating, saying he has accomplished “little or nothing.”
Those numbers are bad, and also correct. Outside of Neil Gorsuch (and the establishment RINO Mitch McConnell had more to do with Gorsuch having a seat on the court than Trump) and some executive orders, Trump doesn’t have an accomplishment he can name. It’s easy to blame Congress, but Trump set himself up as the guy who could use his deal-making abilities to get things done that no other presidents could accomplish.
The problem for Trump and the GOP, in general, is Trump better start to see an improvement in 2018. His numbers will drag down the entire ticket. While there isn’t much risk in the GOP losing the Senate, the House is another story. There is a possibility Democrats can take control of that chamber and if so, bye bye agenda.
Trump’s poll numbers reflect the only people still with him are his base primary voters. Republicans still “support” him but 75 percent is a lousy number among Republicans. It needs to be in the 90’s.
Something has to change. A president with job approval in the 30’s doesn’t have the political capital needed to get things done. Trump said people would be tired of all the winning.
It doesn’t seem to be working.
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