Site icon JONATHAN TURLEY

Polls Show Obama At A 58 Percent Popularity And Trump Down To 40 Percent

There are an interesting set of polls out this week. President Barack Obama appears to be leaving office with one of the highest exiting polls of American presidents at 58 percent while President-elect Donald Trump has hit the lowest at 40 percent.  Polls change and Trump has already attacked the polls as rigged against him.  However, these polls can have a pronounced impact among members of the GOP who may be uncertain about the degree to which they will follow the lead of the White House on changes to taxes, immigration and other areas.  With a developing conflict over tax reform, the polls (whether accurate or not) could complicate problems for the new White House.
 
The CNN/ORC poll showed Trump with 40 percent approval.  That is a drop of six point since the election. It would also be the lowest record for a president-elect at his inauguration.  The polls shows a 54 percent unpopularity percentage.
In comparison, Obama appears to be riding out on a wave of support.  While much slower than then  78 percent before his own inauguration in January 2009, he is still at 58 percent.  That is one point higher than Bill Clinton when he left office. However, he is still not as popular as George H. W. Bush who left with a 62 percent favorable rating.

The concern for Trump should not be on his standing with voters. He has four years to make the case for reelection. The concern should be with this legislative agenda.  Members of Congress are going to be leery in following a new team that has many players from outside of the Beltway and they watched as Obama pushed through the ACA at the cost of a significant number of Democrats seats in Congress.  They have strong leadership in both houses and low polling for the President could lead them to rely more on their own leadership for the details, if not the direction, of legislative reforms.

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