by CHQ Staff
Our friends at NewsMax turned us on to the Gallup Organization’s recent, and very extensive, polling on President Trump’s handling of 14 domestic and foreign issues.
The Gallup Organization’s Megan Brenan reports Trump’s rating for handling the economy, 56 percent, is the highest of his presidency and the highest of his approval ratings on any of 14 domestic and foreign issues tested in the latest Gallup poll. Americans’ approval of his handling of unemployment is nearly as high, at 54 percent.
Ms. Brenan reports Americans’ assessments of the national economy have been mostly positive since Trump took office and his handling of it has been a relative strength for his public image. With the unemployment rate at 4% in January and the stock market performing better than it had been in December and January, Americans’ approval of Trump’s handling of the economy rose four points since early February.
At the same time, his overall 43 percent job approval rating is essentially unchanged since earlier in February but appears to be stabilizing at a higher level than it had been in late 2018 and early 2019.
Ms. Brenan suggests the President’s overall approval rating is likely dragged down by some of the issues that garner his lowest ratings — relations with Russia (39 percent), race relations (38 percent), corruption in government (37 percent) and the situation in Syria (35 percent).
The poll, conducted Feb. 12-28, found Trump’s only other approval rating above the 50 percent mark was his handling of the situation with North Korea. This 51 percent approval rating, reported Ms. Brenan, is up five percentage points since August and is the highest Trump has received on the issue during his presidency.
Most interviews in the poll were conducted during the runup to his second denuclearization summit with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un on Feb. 27 and 28, which ended abruptly when the two could not reach a deal. Other Gallup polling earlier in February found that Americans’ perceptions of North Korea as the greatest enemy of the U.S. had plummeted in the past year.
As the summit with North Korea was taking place, Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, testified publicly in a congressional hearing which Trump has blamed, at least in part, for the failed denuclearization agreement. Cohen alleged that the president is a “con man” and a “racist” and shed doubt upon his campaign’s relationship with Russia — issues on which Trump earns his lowest approval ratings.
The president’s approval ratings on a range of other issues are at or below 50 percent reported Ms. Brenan. These include national defense, relations with China, foreign trade, taxes, immigration, foreign affairs and the federal budget.
In the face of the President’s many successes what drives Trump’s approval down relentlessly is the Democrat raging partisanship.
Democrats’ approval of Trump’s overall job is just 6 percent, and their approval of his handling all 14 issues measured ranges from 5 percent to 21 percent. Democrats’ highest approval ratings for President Trump are 21 percent for unemployment, 20 percent for the economy and 17 percent for the situation with North Korea. Democrats give Trump his lowest ratings for handling relations with Russia, race relations, government corruption and foreign affairs, all garnering no more than 8 percent approval from Democrats.
In contrast to Gallup’s finding of a 43 percent job approval rating for President Trump, the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 48 percent of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance.
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Photo “Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
