As of October 30, an ABC/WP survey found that 39% of registered voters approve of the job that President Trump is doing as president while 59% disapprove. In another survey taken at the same time, the NBC/WSJ survey found 45% approving of the job Trump is doing while 53% disapproved.
On October 28, a Politico/Morning Consult polls found that 43% of registered voters approve of the job the President is doing while 54% disapprove.
Those approving include 46% of men and 40% of women. Those disapproving include 51% of men and 57% of women. Among Hispanics, 41% approve and 53% disapprove. Among African Americans, 11% approve and 80% disapprove.
69% of Americans dislike Trump personally regardless of their feelings about his policy agenda. 25% say they like Trump personally and also approve of his policy agenda. [NBC/WSJ 9/16/19]
73% of Americans wish Trump’s speech and behavior “were more consistent with past presidents”. This view is held by 46% of Republicans, 74% of Independents and 88% of Democrats.
65% of Americans say that Trump has damaged the dignity of the presidency, including 72% of Independents and 92% of Democrats. On the other hand, 35%, including 76% of Republicans say he has not damaged the dignity of the presidency. [ PRRI 10/28/19]
Gallup now does monthly or semi-monthly surveys. WW will 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 |
| 10/31/19 | 41% | 57% | 42% | 53.9% |
| 9/30/19 | 40% | 56% | 42.1% | 53.8% |
| 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 |
| OCT ’19 | 45/53 | ( — subsequent surveys –) | 42/57 | ||
| OCT ’19 | 43/53A | 38/58A | 42/57 | xx | 43/55 |
| 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 34 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 | 78% (11/55) |
| Kennedy | 58% (11/63) |
| GHW Bush | 56% (11/91) |
| GW Bush | 54% (11/03) |
| Clinton | 52% (11/95) |
| Reagan | 53% (11/83) |
| Nixon | 49% (11/71) |
| Trump | 43% (11/19) – RCP Average |
| Obama | 43% (11/11) |
| Carter | 32% (11/79) |
On economic policy, Trump’s approval ratings continue to be on a positive track.
| Approve | Disapprove | ||
| 10/22/19 | 49% | 45% | Econ/YouGov(RV) |
| 9/9/19 | 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 | ||
| 10/22/19 | 42% | 51% | Econ/YouGov(RV) |
| 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 |
81% of Americans say it is “not okay” for political candidates to ask for assistance from foreign governments in their election campaigns. This includes 81% of Republicans, 85% of evangelicals, and 87% of rural dwellers. [Grinnell College/Selzer National Poll 10/23/19]
As of October 16th, Trump has been president for 1,000 days. According to the Washington Post, he has made more than 13,435 false or misleading claims. [Fact Checker WP]
The president has spent 310 days at Trump-branded properties and 237 days at Trump-branded golf properties. [MSNBC 10/16/19]
Given the President’s agitation with the New York Times and the Washington Post, the White House has announced that it will not be renewing its subscriptions to both newspapers and subsequently instructed the other agencies of the executive branch to do the same. [Politico]
The Trump organization is considering selling the lease (as long as 100 years) to the Trump International Hotel. [WP 10/25/19]
President Trump is changing his official residence and that of his wife from New York to Florida. Could it be that it is because New York has a state income tax of 12.5% and the state of Florida has none. This all comes after the President presented and signed a tax bill that places severe limits on the amount of state and local taxes that can be deducted from taxable income for federal income tax purposes.
Refugee admissions to the United Sates have declined precipitously during the Trump presidency.
Fiscal years 1990-1995 – An average of 116,000 refugees arrived in U.S. each year.
Refugee admissions dropped off following September 11 terrorist attacks.
FY 2008-2015—An average of 67,100 refugees arrived each year.
FY 2016 – Roughly 85,000 refugees admitted
FY 2017 – 53,700 refugees admitted – Trump ordered temporary freeze
FY 2018 – Ceiling of 45,000 set and ultimately 22,500 admitted
FY 2019 – Ceiling of 30,000 set and as of August 31- 28,100 admitted
FY 2020 – Ceiling of 18,000 refugees set.
[PEW 9/27/19]
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 10/24/19 | 157 | 2 | 43 | 110 |
| 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: 8 seats on the Courts of Appeals and 39 seats on the District Courts.
There are currently four vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals, 88 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]
As of October 24, Trump has nominated eight people who are rated “not qualified” by the American Bar Association. Four have been confirmed and two nominations are pending. Looking back, Bill Clinton nominated four people who were deemed “not qualified”, three of whom were confirmed. George W Bush nominated eight people who were deemed “not qualified” and five were confirmed. [ABA website]
Disassembling
Effective November 3, those seeking immigrant visas face rejection if they can’t prove they can pay for health care. More broadly there is a companion effort to make it harder for low-income, legal immigrants who receive food stamps or other taxpayer funded assistance to stay in the country. [NBC News 10/5/19]
President Trump ordered a reversal of the longstanding limits on tree cutting in the Tongass National Forest at the request of Alaska’s governor and other top elected officials. Critics raise the concern that this change in rules is important to protecting lucrative salmon fishery and tourism operations. [WP 10/15/19]
About 500,000 students stand to lose access to free school lunches under a Trump administration proposal to limit the number of people who qualify for food stamps. [WP 9/25/19]
The U.S. Treasury intends to issue regulations to significantly pull back three-year-old rules that were designed to prevent foreign companies from shifting taxable income out of the country through using internal debt. [Public Policy Law 360 10/31/10]
The Department of Health and Human Services will no longer require organizations that get billions of dollars in federal grants to comply with rules that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and religion. [WSJ 11/2/19]
The EPA is to relax rules that govern how power plants store waste from burning coal and release water containing toxic metals into nearby waterways. [WP 11/3/19]
The Trump administration has begun the formal process of withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement, the historic global deal to cut climate- changing emissions. [HuffPost Politics 11/4/19]