Trump Approval Nosedive - It's The Virus, Stupid

Harvard Harris Poll Debrief with Mark Penn and Bob Cusack

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President Trump's approval has nosedived the last couple of months. It was as high as 49%. He was in the kind of range that typically allowed Presidents to get re-elected and it's zoomed back down to 43%, the lowest rating we've had in, probably, oh, almost two years. Now it stabilized. It came up one point. His approval is 44% … 56% disapprove. These are much tougher numbers for re-election. Now, let's take a look at how President Trump is doing on specific issues. Well, he’s still got really strong ratings, despite the economic problems. On the economy: 52%, stimulating jobs: 54%, fighting terrorism: 54%. But he's got a real problem: his reactions to the virus were at 51% in April, dropped to 46%, dropped to 44% and now dropped to 41%.

In one phrase - “it’s the virus, stupid”.

Everything has turned - not on the economy … no matter how bad the economy has become - but on reaction to the virus. Ratings on civil disorder went from 42% to 45%, up slightly. Responding to issues of race and police: up slightly from 43% to 44%. But ratings on his performance on the virus, as cases raged almost out of control, overwhelm everything else in the poll. And that drop to 41%, I believe, is the central problem that The President is facing right now. Right track wrong track on the country: well, 27% say right track. I don't know who those folks could be ...
Each month, presidential Pollster Mark Penn shares his analysis of the newest Harvard CAPS / Harris Poll. Fielded July 21-23, this month's poll surveyed 1,932 registered voters on Trump's job approval numbers and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the general mood of the country, police reform, Congress's approval numbers, the 2020 election, general outlook on the economy, mail-in voting in November, policing and race, the role of social media platforms, US-China relations and much more. Results were weighted for age within gender, region, race/ethnicity, marital status, household size, income, employment, education, political party, and political ideology where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.
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