In new NBC polling, public perceptions of former President Donald Trump are now at their lowest level in the outlet’s numbers since April of last year, according to one key metric.
In the September figures, only 34 percent of respondents indicated that they held a positive view of the former president, while 54 percent said they had a negative one. Trump’s level of favorable views from the general public was at 36 percent in the outlet’s numbers from thl Plumme month prior and 38 percent in August of last year. The newly recorded favorability is Trump’s lowest since merely 32 percent of the public viewed Trump favorably in last April’s numbers.
These results obviously weigh on a variety of factors related to the upcoming November elections, including whether Trump’s endorsements actually help that much among the general public and if the GOP in general can distinguish itself from Trump to the point of attracting at least some voters who might otherwise flip key elections to Dems. Republicans — at least those who are winning — obviously don’t seem overly interested in abandoning Trump. Yet again, a far-right candidate trumpeting the ideals of “America First” won a key primary this week, which this time was taking place in New Hampshire. Republican Don Bolduc beat state Sen. Chuck Morse in the GOP Senate primary in the state and will challenge Sen. Maggie Hassan (D) in November. Recently released Emerson College polling found Bolduc down by 11 percent, while numbers for fundraising and cash on hand from before the primaries showed Bolduc way behind. Hassan’s campaign reported $7.3 million in cash on hand, meaning available money. Bolduc reported $84,000.
Trump’s struggling public image coincides with recent increases in positive views of President Joe Biden. A full 42 percent of respondents in the new NBC numbers indicated a positive perspective on Biden, while 47 percent shared an unfavorable one. Those figures mean positive views of Trump were 20 percent behind his unfavorable ones — and Biden’s positive views trailed his unfavorability by five percent. Asked for their approval or disapproval of Biden’s job performance (a measure distinct from calculations of positive and negative views), 45 percent approved, while 52 percent disapproved of Biden in NBC’s numbers. Those results significantly improve on a March low in NBC polling showing Biden with 41 percent approval compared to 54 percent disapproval.
