President Trump’s job approval rating plunged 4 percentage points last week amid a wave of violence, the latest troubling signal for Republican chances in upcoming midterm elections.
With one week to go until the critical mid-way point of Trump’s presidency, just 40 percent of Americans approve of the way he’s handling his job, according to the non-partisan Gallup poll.
That is down from 44% the prior week, an unusually steep decline for the poll, which is based on a survey of 1,500 U.S. adults conducted Monday through Sunday each week.
Last week a white man with a history of violence shot and killed two African-Americans, seemingly at random, at a Kentucky Kroger store following a failed attempt to barge into a black church.
Then mail bombs were sent to people who’d been criticized by Trump, the suspect a man who had railed against Democrats and minorities with hate-filled messages online.
On Saturday, a man shouting anti-Semitic slurs opened fire at a Pittsburgh synagogue, killing 11 people attending Jewish services. The suspect was a white supremacist.
Those three incidents in 72 hours shared one thing: hate.
The drop in the Gallup poll was the sharpest since June 24—when Trump’s weekly job approval declined to 41% from 45% the previous week—amid controversy over his administration’s policy of separating families apprehended illegally crossing the U.S. border with Mexico.
A series of mail bombs to prominent Trump critics and a deadly attack at a Pennsylvania synagogue have stirred criticism of the president’s polarizing rhetoric, especially as the November midterm elections approach.
Trump has in turn blamed the news media for fomenting public anger and on Monday revived his characterization of the press as the “Enemy of the People.”
Trump has held a series of rallies for Republican House and Senate candidates across the country in recent weeks.
White House officials, however, are largely resigned to losing Republican control of the House, and the mood around the president has darkened as many challengers continue to out-raise seasoned Republican incumbents, and Democratic enthusiasm surpasses that of the GOP.
A Republican-based poll by Scott Rasmussen today has Trump at 50 percent approval. The Real Clear Politics average of polls has Trump at 44 percent approval.