USA TODAY International Edition
Trump approval rating hits high
He scores on economy, slumps on other issues
President Donald Trump’s job approval rating reached its highest level since he took office in polling conducted by The Washington
Post and ABC News, according to a survey released Sunday.
Forty-four percent of Americans say they approve of the job Trump is doing as president in
The Washington Post/
ABC News poll, which was conducted from June 28 to July 1 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. That was 5 points higher than his approval in a poll from April, and it surpassed his previous high of 42% in April 2017.
Fifty-one percent of Americans say he is doing a good job on the economy, which is ranked as a highly important issue for 82% of adults heading into the 2020 election.
The president has consistently taken credit for positive economic data and said he would do even better in the
polls were it not for what he considers unfair news coverage and the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
Forty-seven percent of Americans say Trump deserves most of the credit for the economy, 27%say he should get “only some” credit, 20% say he deserves “hardly any” and 4% say he deserves none.
The poll numbers highlight many of the challenges facing the president as he ramps up his reelection campaign.
Fifty-three percent of Americans disapprove of the job Trump is doing, and his high of 44% is lower than the average approval rating for every other president going back to Harry Truman. Before Trump – whose average since taking office is 39% – the record lowest-average job approval in Washington Post/ABC News and Gallup polls was held by President Gerald Ford at 47%.
Most people surveyed do not approve of how Trump has handled major issues other than the economy. Forty percent of Americans like how Trump handles immigration, 38% approve of the job he’s done on health care, 32% approve of his handling of the abortion issue and 29% say he is doing a good job of addressing climate change.
Sixty-five percent say Trump has not acted in a way that’s “fitting and proper for a president,” though that number was down from January 2018 when 70% found him unpresidential.
In hypothetical matchups against leading Democratic presidential hopefuls, the poll found Trump either trailing or tied among registered voters. Former Vice President Joe Biden leads Trump 53% to 43%, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders leads 49%-48% and California Sen. Kamala Harris leads 48%46%. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg are tied with the president.
Democrats hold an enthusiasm edge in the poll: 73% of Democratic supporters say it is “extremely important” that Trump loses his reelection bid, compared with 52% of Republican voters who say it is “extremely important” that he wins.