Trump loves to dismiss poll numbers as “fake news,” but the truth is that most Americans are outraged by his handling of the job of president. While scandal is a daily occurrence at the White House, recent weeks have seen scandals that deeply impact Americans.
Trump having a marital affair with a porn star is a scandal, but Trump being utterly incapable of understanding how to address the tragedy of 17 dead and 13 wounded Americans at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida hits voters where they live and shakes their confidence in the president.
The latest CNN poll shows that only 35 percent of Americans express approval of Trump’s job performance. That number marks a match in Trump’s lowest point in December 2017, which was followed by a small bump in January to 40 percent approval after the passage of the tax bill, his one legislative achievement. It seems a temporary tax break doesn’t really thrill voters all that much when they have to worry that their children will be slaughtered at school.
‘The President also earns his lowest rating yet among Republicans, though he is still viewed positively among his own partisans. Overall, 80% of self-identified Republicans say they approve of the President, one point below his previous low mark of 81%, hit in late September of last year. Just 13% of Republicans say they disapprove of the President’s performance. Approval for the President stands at just 5% among Democrats and 35% among independents.
‘The findings follow several weeks of sharply negative news about the President’s White House staff, including the revelation that several key staffers lacked permanent security clearance, the implementation of a new policy to handle interim security clearances, and news that multiple White House staffers had resigned following accusations of domestic abuse.’
The area of most concern is common sense gun reform laws, an area in which Trump is sorely lacking in any kind of real understanding. Only slightly more than half of Americans who favor lax gun laws approve of Trump’s proposed policies in this area, while far more who favor stricter policies feel that Trump is doing well in this area.
‘Just a third of Americans approve of his handling of gun policy, 54% disapprove and another 12% say they have yet to make up their minds. Those who live in gun-owning households give him higher ratings than others: 52% in gun households approve of his work on gun policy; it’s 17% among all others.’
Trump’s base of NRA-led gun advocates are not the majority and more and more Americans are coming to an understanding that gun laws are a bigger problem than anyone has been able to admit previously.
These polls numbers are a sharp contrast to the ones Trump likes to brag about on Twitter. Just one day before CNN’s poll was released, Trump was happily tweeting out a CPAC poll that sharply disagreed with any kind of neutral or accurate polling taken since Trump took office.
If the current trend in polling continues and voter numbers stay anywhere near the current disapproval rate, this nightmare of a Trump presidency shows clear signs of being only two years away from ending for good.
Featured image via Getty/Alex Wong
