Trump’s disapproval ratings are hitting historic levels ahead of the midterms
President Donald Trump is approaching the midterm elections with a historic 50 percent of Americans strongly disapproving of his job performance — shattering the rejection record he set before the 2018 midterms, CNN’s polling guru said Friday.
“They don’t just dislike him,” Harry Enten said. “There’s record hatred for the president of the United States going into a midterm.”
Trump also fares worse with independent voters, with 56 percent expressing strong disapproval, Enten said.
“Among the group that determines elections in this country, you see the hatred for the president of the United States. This is what the voters are saying now,” he said.
The White House didn’t immediately return an inquiry from The Independent.
Enten said Trump’s overall 50 percent “strongly disapprove” rating eclipses the 45 percent he notched in 2016.
Before that, President George W. Bush held the record when 41 percent of Americans strongly disapproved of his job performance ahead of the 2006 midterm elections, according to CNN’s chief data analyst.
And while Trump’s “historically polarizing” effect on American voters has sometimes worked to his benefit, Enten said, it’s not doing so now.
That’s because the president’s “strongly approve” rating is just 18 percent, one-third less than the average 27 percent for previous presidents going into the midterms — including Trump in 2018, Enten said.
“So, Trump actually has fewer people loving him than what we see with the average president,” he said. “What’s going on here is normally Trump is able to counteract that strong hatred with strong love, but not anymore.”
The 2018 midterms took place during Trump’s first term, when Democrats flipped six seats in the House and two in the Senate, but failed to win a majority in either chamber.
But Trump is now a lame duck, like Bush was in 2006, when Democrats gained control of both chambers by flipping 31 seats in the House and five in the Senate, along with two seats won by independents who caucused with them.
The latest so-called generic congressional ballot polling average shows Democrats with an 8.7 percent edge over Republicans, according to data posted Friday by Real Clear Polling.
Democrats have enjoyed an “incredible upswing” during September, when they began with a generic congressional ballot lead of 6.7 percent, according to the Silver Bulletin.
