Approval of President Donald Trump’s handling of government has fallen sharply since the start of his second term, according to a new AP-NORC poll, with much of the growing disaffection coming from fellow Republicans.
The poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research came after recent Democratic victories in the off-year elections, but before Congress took major steps to try to end the longest shutdown in U.S. history. It shows that only 33% of US adults approve of how the Republican president is running the government, compared to 43% in an AP-NORC poll in March.
This was largely due to a drop in approval among Republicans and independents. Only about two-thirds of Republicans, 68%, said they approved of Trump’s administration, down from 81% in March, according to the poll. Independent approval fell from 38% to 25%.
The results highlight the dangers of the shutdown, which Trump and his administration have tried to force hard on Democrats, even as U.S. adults blamed both parties for the funding cut, which has worsened air traffic, left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay and affected food aid for some of the most vulnerable Americans. But it could also signal greater discontent over Trump’s other dramatic and polarizing changes to the federal government in recent months, including agency cuts and waves of mass layoffs.
Trump’s approval rating for running the government is falling among Republicans
Republicans have generally been staunch supporters of the president, so their growing disaffection is especially noticeable.
“I’m very disturbed by a government shutdown for 40 days,” said Beverly Lucas, 78, a Republican and retiree who lives in Ormond Beach, Fla., likening Trump’s second term to “raising an angry child in the White House with unlimited power.”
“When people are hungry, he would throw a party,” she said, referring to the Great Gatsby-themed Halloween party held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. “I thought he looked callous.”
The poll found that an overwhelming majority of Democrats, 95%, continue to disapprove of Trump’s handling of the federal government, up from 89% in March.
Trump’s overall approval rating remains steady
Even with the decline in support for his leadership of the government, Trump’s overall approval rating remained unchanged in the new poll. About a third of US adults, 36%, approve of his overall handling of the presidency, roughly in line with 37% in October in an AP-NORC poll. His approval rating for handling key issues such as immigration and the economy is also largely unchanged from last month.
Health care has emerged as a central issue in the shutdown debate, with Democrats demanding that Republicans negotiate with them on extending tax credits that expire Jan. 1. But Trump’s approval rating on the issue, which was already quite low, remained largely unchanged.
About a third, 34% of Americans said they approved of Trump’s handling of health care in a November poll, up from 31% in October.
And many of his supporters are still behind him. Susan McDuffie, a 74-year-old Republican who lives in Carson City, Nevada and retired several years ago, said she has “a lot of confidence in Trump” and believes the country is on the right track. She blames the shutdown and the suffering it caused on Democrats.
“I just don’t understand how Democrats can care so little about people,” she said, scoffing at the idea that Democrats were trying to use the shutdown to force Republicans to address the rapid cost of health care.
“I have no patience for Democrats and their lame excuses,” she said, arguing that people who are afraid SNAP benefits may end and are struggling to put food on the table are a more pressing issue.
A lot of blame to go around
When it comes to closure, there’s still a lot to blame. Recent polls have shown that while Republicans may be taking a bit more heat, many believe Democrats are also to blame.
“I really believe it’s everybody. Everybody’s stubborn,” said moderate Nora Bailey, 33, who lives in the Batesville, Arkansas, area and doesn’t belong to any party.
She said that after recently giving birth, she delayed getting a breast pump through a government program that helps new mothers while her son was in intensive care. And she worries about her disabled parents, who rely on SNAP food stamps.
Overall, she said she is conflicted about Trump’s handling of jobs and disapproves of his leadership of the federal government because she doesn’t think he has gone far enough to fight waste.
“I don’t see enough done yet to say we’ve reduced the federal government instead of having all these redundant people,” she said.
It’s possible that Trump’s approval rating for running the federal government will rebound if the government reopens. But the clash could have lasting effects on perceptions of the president, whose approval ratings on the economy and immigration have dipped slightly since the spring.
Lucas, Republican of Florida, said shutdowns that leave civilians without pay are the wrong way to resolve ideological differences.
“Air traffic controllers? Really? You want to not pay the people who have your life in their hands every day?” she said. “We need to deal with these conflicts like reasonable people, not thugs and bullies on the playground.”
___ Colvin reported from New York.
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The AP-NORC poll of 1,143 adults was conducted Nov. 6-10 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The overall sampling error for adults is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.