The bad news for Donald Trump’s approval rating keeps getting worse. A new Morning Consult poll released today shows that in January Trump had the worst monthly approval rating of his presidency.
The report from Morning Consult’s Trump Tracker found a record-low 40 percent of respondents saying they approved of the president.
A majority of participants– 55 percent — also said that they disapprove of the president’s performance, which is also a monthly record.
The number of Republicans participating in the poll who said they approve of Trump is also at a low point. It is still a large majority at 83 percent, but Trump is used to over 90% of Republicans giving him favorable approval ratings.
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The Morning Consult survey was conducted among a very large number of American voters (156,104) throughout the month of January. This, of course, was when the longest-ever government shutdown was taking place, and every poll showed that the majority of Americans blamed Trump for the shutdown, due to his unreasonable demand for southern border wall funding.
During January was also when Democrats took control of the House and when Trump harshly criticized (and was contradicted by) his intelligence leaders on foreign policy. Both Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and CIA Director Gina Haspel contradicted Trump’s foreign policy conclusions on North Korea, Iran and ISIS.
The new poll also analyzed responses based on what states the participants reside in. This analysis showed that a majority of voters in 27 states said they disapprove of Trump, while a majority of voters in just 12 states say they approve of his performance.
These results do not bode well for Trump’s prospects of being re-elected as president in 2020.
Other polls taken in January also showed Trump with historically low approval ratings. One especially disturbing poll for Trump, from Quinnipiac, indicated that he has fallen into negative territory on economic issues, as more voters disapprove than approve of his handling of the economy right now. A poll from POLITICO two weeks ago showed him with record high disapproval ratings. And an AP poll from mid-January showed that Trump’s approval rating had fallen six points lower than the lowest approval rating ever given to President Barack Obama.
As another shutdown looms, as the Mueller probe intensifies, and as House Democrats begin new investigations into Trump and his family, it is almost certain that Trump’s approval will continue to plummet. Don’t be surprised if at some point in the near future his approval rating hits new lows, possibly falling into the 20’s.
If Trump is accused of crimes in coming months, and if his approval ratings continue to fall, don’t be surprised if Republicans in Congress give up on him. The Trump presidency is a sinking ship, and very few people in Washington will want to go down with him.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
