As of September 8th, the Politico/Morning Consult survey found that 43% of registered voters approve of the job that President Trump is doing as president while 54% disapprove. Those approving of the job he is doing include 40% of women, 46% of men, 33% of Hispanics, 15% of African Americans, 82% of Republicans and 10% of Democrats.
On September 10, 2019 the Economist/YouGov survey found that 44% of Americans approved of Trump’s job performance and 54% disapproved.
(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 |
| 8/30/19 | 39% | 57% | 41.3% | 54.2% |
| 7/31/19 | 42% | 54% | 42.5% | 52.9% |
| 6/16/19 | 43% | 55% | 42.6% | 53.0% |
| 5/12/19 | 42% | 52% | 42.4% | 52.4% |
| 4/9/19 | 45% | 51% | 42% | 52.7% |
| 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% |
| 12/22/18 | 39% | 55% | 42.2% | 52.8% |
| 9/30/18 | 42% | 53% | 41.5% | 52.7% |
| 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 |
| SEPT ’19 | xx | xx | 39/56A | xx | xx |
| AUG’19 | 43/55A | xx | 41/54 | xx | 43/56 |
| JUL ’19 | 45/52 | 47/50 | xx | xx | 46/51 |
| 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 |
The following are job approval numbers from Gallup for nine of the last twelve presidents, roughly 32 months into their first term. Since Gallup is no longer providing a steady stream of approval ratings WW will use various other surveys to provide approval numbers on the current president.
| Eisenhower | 71% (9/55) |
| GHW Bush | 68% (9/91) |
| Kennedy | 56% (9/63) |
| Nixon | 52% (10/71) |
| GW Bush | 50% (9/03) |
| Clinton | 48% (9/95) |
| Reagan | 47% (9/83) |
| Trump | 44% (9/19) – Econ/YouGov |
| Obama | 40% (9/11) |
| Carter | 30% (9/79) |
On economic policy, Trump’s approval ratings have remained consistently positive since April.
| Approve | Disapprove | ||
| 9/19/19 | 48% | 48% | CNN (RV) |
| 7/23/19 | 52% | 41% | Fox News (RV) |
| 6/11/19 | 53% | 43% | Econ/Yougov RV |
| 5/14/19 | 48% | 46% | Fox News (RV) |
| 4/16/19 | 47% | 46% | Reuters/Ipsos (A) |
| 3/26/19 | 50% | 45% | Econ/YouGov (RV) |
| 2/2/19 | 49% | 45% | CNN (RV) |
| 1/1/19 | 47% | 46% | Econ/YouGov (RV) |
| 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 | ||
| 9/9/19 | 40% | 50% | CNN (RV) |
| 7/30/19 | 41% | 51% | Economist (RV) |
| 6/11/19 | 46% | 50% | Econ/YouGov (R) |
| 5/14/19 | 43% | 49% | Econ/YouGov (RV) |
| 4/16/19 | 39% | 52% | Reuters (A) |
| 3/26/19 | 44% | 50% | Econ/YouGov (RV) |
| 2/19/19 | 44% | 50% | Econ/YouGov (RV) |
| 1/1/19 | 42% | 51% | Econ/YouGov (RV) |
| 7/18/18 | 38% | 45% | NBC/WSJ |
| 1/16/18 | 36% | 60% | NBC/WSJ |
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 9/11/19 | 150 | 2 | 43 | 105 |
| 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 several nominations awaiting Senate action: 2 seats on the Courts of Appeals and 33 seats on the District Courts.
There are currently four vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals, 91 vacancies on the U.S. District Courts and two vacancies on the U.S. Court of International Trade. [USCourts/Wikipedia/List of federal judges appointed by Donald Trump]
Disassembling
On September 12, the administration will finalize its repeal of the 2015 Clean Water Rule, which gave the federal government authority over 60% of the nation’s
water bodies. Critic say the move will result in the loss of wetlands and leave critical pieces of the nation’s waterways unprotected. [WP 9/12/19]
Trump has instructed Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to exempt the Tongass National Forest from logging restrictions imposed in 2001. The move would affect 9.5 million acres. [WP 8/27/19]
The Department of Defense has released a list of 127 military construction projects that are being delayed as the Department moved $3.6 billion to pay for the infamous border wall. [NBCNews.com 9/4/19]
The administration has announced that it will make it harder for children born to U.S. service members serving abroad to claim U.S. citizenship. This follows a pattern that the administration has pursued since 2017. [WP 9/6/19]
“Students who say they were defrauded by colleges and want their education loans erased will have a tougher time seeking forgiveness under newly issued regulations from the Trump administration.” [WP 9/4/19]
The Trump administration is limiting scientific input to the 2020 dietary guidelines, raising concerns among nutrition advocates and independent experts about industry influence over healthy eating recommendations for all Americans.
For the first time, HHS and USDA have narrowed the type of research that can be used to only those studies vetted by agency officials. [WP 8/30/19]
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed raising the bar for bringing claims of discrimination, appeasing the home insurance and mortgage industries. The new rule would amend an Obama-era regulation barring lenders, landlords and others in the housing industry from enacting policies that may appear innocuous but wind up discriminating against minority groups. [WP 8/17/19]
The Alaska Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the country’s largest wildlife preserve and may be the country’s largest remaining pristine wilderness.
The Trump administration, thru the Department of the Interior, is planning to open the refuge for lease sales to oil companies this year. [WSJ 9/13/19]
The Trump administration has decided, apparently for the first time, to weigh prospective immigrants credit history when deciding who gets to come to the U.S. and who gets to stay. As a result, it will be harder for legal immigrants to get permanent residency and for prospective applicants to enter the U.S. if they rely on social programs such as Medicaid or food stamps or are deemed likely to need them.
[WSJ 8/17/19]
The new student loan watchdog of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a former executive from a loan servicer that has repeatedly come under fire from government auditors and the consumer bureau itself for a series of mistakes. [NYT 8/17/19]
The Trump administration has proposed allowing businesses with federal contracts to discriminate against workers on the basis of sex, race, LGBT status and other characteristics. The order would apply to any organization that could prove it serves a religious purpose. It is possible that this proposal could also lead to federal contractors refusing to hire women or unmarried workers who are pregnant or parents, or even discriminate on the basis of race. [Daily Beast 8/14/19]
EPA has proposed a rule that would reverse standards enacted under President Obama that require oil and gas operations to install controls on their operations to curb the release of methane at the wellhead and in their transmission equipment.
Interestingly, several of the biggest fossil fuel companies including Exxon, Shell and BP have urged the administration to keep the current standards in place. [WP 8/29/19]