Trump Approval Rating Down 14 Points in a Month

His presidency started out with soft approval numbers, though not abysmal. The past month, however, seems to have sent President Trump’s approval rating down the drain, and it’s believed that the trainwreck over the ObamaCare repeal bill may be somewhat to blame.

Report from Investor’s Business Daily:

Just 34% of the public approve of the job President Trump is doing, as his support among Republicans and independents tumbles, according to the April IBD/TIPP poll. Fifty six percent disapprove of the job he’s doing. Approval ratings for a president haven’t been this low President Bush’s last months in office.

Last month, 40% of independents approved of the job Trump is doing; just 29% approve today. Among Republicans, Trump’s job approval is 74%, which represents a 14-point decline from last month.

The latest IBD/TIPP poll was taken from March 24-30, and includes responses from 904 people across the country, giving it a margin of error of +/-3.3 percentage points.

Here’s the chart covering back to May of last year under the Obama administration tracks what IBD calls the “Presidential Leadership Index.” Note the sharp decline as of this month:

The numbers are bad across the board:

He lost significant support among his strongest backers: white men (which dropped from 58% in March to 49% today), and rural America, which went from 56% to 41% today.

Just over a third (37%) rate Trump’s handling of the economy as “good” or “excellent,” which is down from 43% last month. Only a quarter of those polled give him top marks on his handling of health care.

And 35% now say that Trump is providing strong leadership for the country, compared with 49% who say it is weak.

The biggest downturn may be the 14 point drop with Republican voters. Trump’s relentless attacks on the House Freedom Caucus, which is basically the present-day Tea Party voice in Congress, probably drove this number. Trump will always have a floor of support since his personality and historic candidacy will court a population of voters for years to come. However, he is losing a lot of ground when it comes to negotiating with Congress on both sides. The worse his numbers become, the less encouragement there is for weary Republicans and skeptical Democrats to take a chance and compromise with him on major issues.

Let this stand as evidence that it’s better to under-promise and over-deliver, than it is to over-promise and under-deliver on your first major legislative push.