On March 27th the NBC/WSJ survey found that 43% approve of the job that Trump is doing as president. Among those expressing approval are 88% of Republicans, 60% of rural residents, 54% of men and 54% of whites overall.
53% disapprove of the job that he is doing including 88% of African Americans, 64% of Latinos, 61% of women, 57% of those age 18-34 and 51% of independents. [NBC/WSJ 3/27/19]
On March 26, 2019, Economist/YouGov found that 46% of Americans approved of Trump’s job performance and 51% disapproved.
On March 10, 2019, Gallup found (among all adults) that 39% of Americans approve of President Trump’s job performance and 57% disapprove.
(Gallup no longer provides a daily or weekly approval rating of the president. Gallup now assess presidential job approval on a monthly basis.)
I now include a periodic polling summary–Registered and Likely Voters–by FiveThirtyEight.
| Gallup (all adults) | FiveThirtyEight (Registered / Likely voters) | |||
| Date | Approval | Dis-approval | Approval | Dis-approval |
| 3/10/19 | 39% | 57% | 41.8% | 53.4% |
| 2/10/19 | 44% | 52% | 40.2% | 55.1% |
| 1/27/19 | 37% | 59% | 40.4% | 55.6% |
| 1/10/19 | 37% | 59% | 41.8% | 53.9% |
| 12/22/18 | 39% | 55% | 42.2% | 52.8% |
| 12/2/18 | 40% | 56% | 42.5% | 52.7% |
| 11/4/18 | 40% | 54% | 42.2% | 52.6% |
| 10/14/18 | 44% | 51% | 42.1% | 52.4% |
| 9/30/18 | 42% | 53% | 41.5% | 52.7% |
| 9/2/18 | 41% | 53% | 40.3% | 54.5% |
| 7/29/18 | 40% | 55% | 41.2% | 53.2% |
| 7/1/18 | 42% | 53% | 41.8% | 52.3% |
| 1/14/18 | 38% | 57% | — | — |
The following are some additional looks at the President’s job performance. The numbers below are of registered voters unless followed by an “A” which means “all voters” or “L” which means “likely voters”.
| Date | NBC / WSJ | WP / ABC | CNN | CBS | FOX |
| MAR ’19 | 43/53A | xx | 43/51 | xx | 46/51 |
| FEB ’19 | 46/52A | xx | 42/54 | xx | 46/52 |
| JAN ’19 | 43/54A | 38/58 | 37/57A | 36/59A | 43/54 |
| DEC ’18 | 43/54A | xx | 39/52 | xx | 46/52 |
| JAN ’18 | 39/57A | 38/58 | 43/53 | 37/58cbsA | 45/53 |
| DEC ’17 | 41/56 | xxx | 36/59cnn | 36/57 cbsA | xxx |
| JAN ’17 | xxx | xxx | 44/53 | 40/48 cbs | xxx |
40% of Americans have positive feelings toward President Trump while 51% have negative feelings toward him. The high point of this measurement was in February 2017 when 43% had positive feelings toward the President and the low point was in April 2018 when only 35% had positive feelings toward him. [NBC/WSJ 3/26/19]
The following are job approval numbers from Gallup for ten of the last twelve presidents, roughly 27 months into their first term.
| GHW Bush | 77% (4/91) |
| GW Bush | 71% (4/03) |
| Eisenhower | 68% (4/53) |
| Kennedy | 66% (4/63) |
| Nixon | 49% (3/71) |
| Clinton | 46% (4/95) |
| Obama | 43% (4/11) |
| Trump | 43% (4/19) |
| Reagan | 41% (4/83) |
| Carter | 40% (4/79) |
On economic policy, Trump’s approval ratings have remained consistently positive since April.
| Approve | Disapprove | ||
| 3/26/19 | 50% | 45% | Econ/YouGov (RV) |
| 3/4/19 | 49% | 45% | Quinnipiac (RV) |
| 2/2/19 | 49% | 45% | CNN (RV) |
| 1/1/19 | 47% | 46% | Econ/YouGov (RV) |
| 12/6/18 | 48% | 42% | CNBC (A) |
| 11/18/18 | 52% | 41% | CBS News (A) |
| 10/9/18 | 51% | 42% | Econ/YouGov (RV) |
| 9/9/18 | 51% | 53% | CNN |
| 8/21/18 | 49% | 44% | Fox News |
| 7/18/18 | 50% | 34% | NBC/WSJ |
| 1/16/18 | 46% | 49% | CBS News |
On foreign policy, Trump’s approval ratings remain in negative territory.
| Approve | Disapprove | ||
| 3/26/19 | 44% | 50% | Econ/YouGov (RV) |
| 2/19/19 | 44% | 50% | Econ/YouGov (RV) |
| 1/1/19 | 42% | 51% | Econ/YouGov (RV) |
| 12/11/19 | 42% | 51% | Econ/YouGov (RV) |
| 11/19/18 | 42% | 53% | Quinnipiac (RV) |
| 10/9/18 | 45% | 48% | Econ/YouGov (RV) |
| 9/9/18 | 38% | 56% | CNN |
| 8/21/18 | 37% | 55% | Fox News |
| 7/18/18 | 38% | 45% | NBC/WSJ |
| 1/16/18 | 36% | 60% | NBC/WSJ |
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was a major accomplishment of the Trump administration in December 2017.
In October 2017, Americans were asked whether they thought they would pay more or less taxes when the then pending tax bill was enacted. 25% thought they would end up paying more, 14% thought they would be paying less, 21% thought they would be paying about the same and 40% said they did not know.
Now that folks are filing their tax returns for the first full year of the law’s existence they were asked about the impact of the law. 28% say they will pay more taxes, 17% say they will pay less taxes, 27% say they will be about the same and 28% say they do not know enough. Folks projections as to what would happen to them were not that far off. [NBC/WSJ 3/27/19]
78% of Americans have seen, read or heard the news coverage of the Special Counsel submitting his final report. Based on that coverage 37% have more doubts about Trump’s presidency.
However, 57% do not have more doubts. The number of people who do not have more doubts has grown from 44% last December to 47% this past February.
[NBC/WSJ 3/27/19]
As of March 31, the Washington Post fact checker team has documented
9,451 false or misleading claims by the president since he took office.
President Trump has regularly claimed that his father was born in Germany. In fact, he was born in the Bronx. Trump’s grandparents were apparently born in Europe.
As of March 25, 2019, 66% of Trump’s cabinet officers and senior staff across the government has turned over. [Cillizza 3/28]
Since Cillizza made that calculation, Linda McMahon, head of the SBA, has left the administration and Kristin Nielsen is out as Secretary of Homeland Security.
According to the General Accountability Office, each of President Trump’s trips to his resort at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, cost the federal government $3,400,000. [WP 2/5/19]
Other research shows that he has apparently made 23 such trips, through the end of March which suggests that these trips have cost the federal government $78,200,00.
Judges Nominated and Confirmed to Date
Because the U.S. Senate remains in Republican hands and the filibuster is no more, the President can continue unchecked his goal of remaking the federal judiciary.
| Total | Supreme Ct | Appeals Ct | District Ct | |
| Trump – thru 4/15/19 | 95 | 2 | 37 | 56 |
| Obama – 8 years | 329 | 2 | 55 | 268 |
| GW Bush – 8 years | 327 | 2 | 62 | 261 |
| Clinton – 8 years | 378 | 2 | 66 | 305 |
| GHW Bush – 4 years | 193 | 2 | 42 | 148 |
| Reagan | 383 | 3 | 83 | 290 |
| Carter | 262 | 0 | 56 | 203 |
There are currently a number of nominations awaiting Senate action: 5 seats on the Courts of Appeals, 55 seats on the District Courts and 2 seats on the Courts of International Trade.
There are currently 8 vacancies on the U.S. Courts of Appeals, 127 vacancies on the U.S. District Courts and 4 vacancies on the U.S. Court of International Trade. [USCourts/Wikipedia]
Disassembling
The President’s proposed $4.75 trillion 2020 budget includes cuts to the following departments or agencies.
Environmental Protection Agency (-31%)
State and USAID (-24%)
Transportation (-19%)
Housing and Urban Development (-16%)
Agriculture (-15%)
Interior (-14%)
Health and Human Services (-12%)
Education (-12%)
Energy (-11%)
Labor (-10%)
Justice (-2%)
NASA (-2%)
Treasury (-2%)
The budget includes additional funding for the following departments.
Defense (+5%)
Homeland Security (+7%)
Veterans Affairs (+8%)
[Washington Post]
The following are specific cuts that seem to be directed at those who are most disadvantaged.
$220 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/food stamps) through program consolidation and reducing eligibility and benefits. These proposed cuts would remove an estimated 755,000 families from the program.
$50 billion from Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF).
Zeroing out funding for DHHS programs relating to autism, including developmental disabilities surveillance and research program and the interagency autism coordinating committee.
30% cut in the office of Disability Employment in DOL.
$10 billion cut to Social Security disability Insurance program, which provides benefits to disabled workers.
Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, which provides health care coverage to those with disabilities – shaving $818 billion from projected spending on Medicare over 10 years and cutting nearly $1.5 trillion from projected spending on Medicaid.
[NYT]
During a speech to House Republicans, President Trump claimed that the noise from wind turbines can cause cancer.
For the third year in a row, the Trump administration, in the person of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, has proposed killing federal funding for the Special Olympics, in the amount of $17.6 million. This cut is part of an effort to slash the Education Department.
The Government Accountability Office reports that each trip the President takes to his resort Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, FL costs the government $3.4 million. Trump proposed cutting funding for the Special Olympics for an amount roughly equal to the cost of 5 trips to his personal resort. [NBC/News]
After a bi-partisan outcry the President announced that this cut would be taken out of the proposed budget.
In addition, the budget that DeVos has proposed “would eliminate 29 education programs including a program that operates after-school programs for low-income kids, one that provides professional development for teachers and one that helps provide mental health services.”
Overall, the budget cuts over $7 billion from the Department of Education.
[HuffPost 3/30/19]
“The Trump administration is preparing to shutter all 21 international offices of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services.” This will result in a transfer of processing family visa applications, foreign adoptions and citizenship petitions from members of the military to domestic offices and the State Department’s embassies and consulates. [WP 3/12/19]
$664.9 billion is the amount of offshore profits repatriated by American corporations last year, short of the $4 trillion predicted by President Trump. [Morning Consult 3/29/19]
The Trump administration plans to shift much of the power and responsibility for food safety inspections in hog plants to the pork industry as early as May, cutting the number of federal inspectors by about 40% and replacing them with plant employees. [WP]
A White House security adviser told the House Oversight and Reform Committee that 25 denials for security clearance applications were overridden by the Trump administration. Tricia Newbold, who has been a White House security adviser for 18 years, said the security clearances were approved regardless of concerns over blackmail, foreign influences and other concerns, per the Washington Post. [WP/Axios 4/1]