With days left of his term, outgoing President Donald Trump’s level of job approval among the general public is the lowest that Pew Research has recorded for Trump at any point of his presidency. In results from a Pew survey conducted from January 8 through January 12, a mere 29 percent of respondents say that they approve of Trump’s job performance. Over the last two months or so, even Trump’s own voters have grown increasingly critical of his behavior since the recent presidential election specifically. Now, a full 20 percent of his supporters characterize his conduct since the election as “poor,” while two months ago, only 10 percent of his supporters said the same.
In the new Pew survey, a full 64 percent of respondents said that they approve of President-elect Joe Biden’s post-election conduct, characterizing this conduct as either “excellent” or “good.” The share of respondents offering these assessments of the president-elect’s conduct has slightly increased over the last couple of months from a previous level of 62 percent. In sharp contrast, in the new Pew survey, a full 76 percent of respondents overall said that they disapprove of Trump’s post-election conduct specifically, with 14 percent of respondents characterizing his behavior as “only fair” and 62 percent calling it “poor.”
Among respondents overall, Trump does not fare particularly well on any major question. A full 68 percent of respondents overall said that they don’t want Trump to remain a “major political figure for years to come,” according to Pew, while only 29 percent of respondents overall said the opposite and offered support for the idea of Trump remaining in the national political spotlight. Last week, a violent mob of the outgoing president’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building while Congress was inside going through the motions of formally certifying the electoral college outcome (meaning Biden’s victory), and 75 percent of respondents overall said that Trump bears at least some responsibility for the deadly violence. A full 52 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said the same — which, while lower than the blame for Trump among respondents overall, is still a notable level of Republican blame.
Troublingly, the outgoing president’s lies about the recent presidential election appear to have an audience among the general public. A full 34 percent of respondents overall said that Trump “definitely or probably was the rightful election winner,” according to Pew, although no court anywhere in the country has at any point accepted Trump’s claims that systematic fraud swung the election to Biden. A full 64 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said that Trump definitely or probably won the 2020 election — which just did not happen.
