The Morning Consult/Politico weekly tracking poll shows a drop in popularity for President Donald Trump to 39 percent. That is not however a massive decline given the harsh content of the Special Counsel Report. Half of those polls still opposed impeachment. What is more notable, in my view, is that 57 percent of those polled now disapprove of Trump’s presidency. That is a daunting figure for someone entering the campaign season.
In fairness, Trump has hovered in the 30s and 40s for his entire Administration. His fluctuation is relatively slight given the huge waves of coverages battering his Administration. The fact is that roughly 35 percent on both ends of support and opposition is baked in. What should worry him — and the Republicans — is the number of people expressing dissatisfaction. A rising number of voters appear to hardening in that view. Trump clearly controls the Republican primary right now but he is looking at an unprecedented challenge in the general.
Trump is clearly gambling not on convincing most of these voters about himself but winning again on a disastrous choice by the Democrats for their standard barrier. That might not happen however. Many of us were critical when the Democratic establishment (and virtually every Democratic member of Congress) all but guaranteed the nomination of Clinton despite every poll showing her to be unpopular and the voters seeking an anti-establishment choice. However, there is a much larger array of choices this year and Joe Biden will have to fight for the nomination.
This is going to be interesting. What is clear however is that, while Trump’s supporters are holding firm, he is adding people who are increasingly opposed to him in the general.