The FINANCIAL — President Donald Trump’s job approval rating among men has fallen seven percentage points over the last four weeks, from 51% in early March to 44%. Meanwhile, his already low approval among women — currently 34% — has changed little, reducing the gender gap in approval of Trump to 10 points, down from 15 points four weeks ago.
Trump won the 2016 election in large part to strong backing from men, who supported him by 12 points over Hillary Clinton, according to exit polls. Women supported Clinton by an equally large 12-point margin, resulting in the largest gender gap in election polling history.
Men have continued to support Trump at much higher levels than women since he became president. But as his popularity is waning among the general public, he is beginning to lose support among subgroups across the board, including those who are more loyal to him, according to Gallup.
These results are based on weekly averages of Gallup Daily tracking surveys, each encompassing more than 3,500 interviews with U.S. adults to allow for reliable analysis of subgroups.
For the week of March 20-26, an average of 39% of all Americans approved of the job Trump was doing as president, the lowest weekly average approval rating of his term. The period included a personal low 36% three-day rolling average approval rating for Trump in March 24-26 interviewing, the first three days after Republicans were unable to pass legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Trump’s job approval remains at 36% in the latest three-day rolling average.
Four weeks ago, when Trump delivered his first address to a joint session of Congress and the stock market reached record highs, 43% of Americans approved of his job performance. Since then, his overall job approval rating has dropped at least one percentage point each week.
Trump Job Approval Down Among All Major Subgroups
Trump’s approval has declined among all major subgroups, with the seven-point decline among men tied for the largest. He also has fallen seven points among non-Hispanic white college graduates.
Trump’s support has now fallen below the majority level among men, those ages 50 and older, married Americans and all non-Hispanic whites.
Politically, Trump has suffered a larger loss in support among independents (six points) and Republicans (four points) than among Democrats (two points), mainly because Democrats’ approval has always been low.
Trump still enjoys better than 80% approval among Republicans, but only one in three independents and 8% of Democrats now approve.
Like Democrats and women, young adults and unmarried Americans are two groups who have been less inclined to support Trump all along and who show little change in their approval of him in recent weeks.
Whites without a college degree are one group that has long backed Trump and is mostly maintaining higher approval. Currently, 57% of whites without a degree approve of the job Trump is doing — little changed from 59% in early March.
White college nongraduates, along with Republicans and conservatives, are the only three major subgroups who now express majority approval for Trump.
Implications
The first week of March was one of Trump’s better ones as president, based on his job approval rating at the time, while the past week has been his worst. The good feeling surrounding his address to Congress and the post-speech stock market rally made Americans optimistic about the future of the U.S. economy, if not the country more broadly.
Toward the end of that week, however, Trump made an unsubstantiated accusation that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. In subsequent weeks, he has faced renewed questions about Russian involvement in his presidential campaign and transition, and he saw his revised “travel ban,” which aimed to prevent people from six Muslim-majority countries from traveling to the U.S., blocked in the courts.
The month wound down with House Republicans unable to pass legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, one of Trump’s most prominent campaign promises.
As a result, Trump has hit a new low in public approval, with all major subgroups showing declines, including larger drops among men and other groups who have been solid Trump supporters.
Now, Trump is facing concerns about whether he can accomplish some of the other big items on his agenda, including tax reform, infrastructure spending and regulatory reform.
Americans are not affording Trump the honeymoon period typically enjoyed by new presidents, suggesting he is unlikely to make solid gains in approval among Democrats anytime soon, and his approval ratings in general will likely stay low. Therefore, it is critical for Trump to maintain support among his core constituencies, who might then apply pressure to reluctant members of Congress to vote for his agenda.
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