Poll: Trump’s Job Approval Drops 6 Points to 43 Percent

President Trump’s job approval has plunged six percentage points to 43 percent in the latest Gallup poll, reflecting the sharpest drop Gallup has recorded to date for the Trump presidency.

The poll reflects data taken between April 1-14, while the country was in lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic and receiving daily press briefings from the president.

The six percentage point drop is the sharpest decline Gallup has ever recorded for Trump during his presidency, as his 49 percent mid-March approval was a tie for his personal best.

Trump’s current 43 percent approval “is still higher than most of the ratings he has received since he has been in the White House; his average rating since taking office is 40%. This year has been a relatively bright one for the president’s standing — averaging 46%, including three separate ratings of 49%,” according to Justin McCarthy of Gallup.

At the same time, Congress’ job approval enjoyed an 8 percentage point jump. The latest Gallup poll shows that 30 percent of Americans approve the job Congress is doing, which is up 8 percent from Congress’ 22 percent approval in early March.

“Congressional members’ bipartisan work that led to the recent $2 trillion stimulus package may have boosted Americans’ ratings of the legislative branch to the 30% mark this month — a feat not seen in more than a decade,” according to McCarthy. The last time Gallup recorded Congressional job approval this high was in 2009.

The American public’s satisfaction with the direction of the country has also dropped 12 points to 30 percent, marking only the third time in the past two decades that Gallup has recorded a drop this large.

The other two instances were in October 2009, after the stock market crashed and Congress rejected of the Bush administration’s first bailout legislation; and in July 2016, during a summer of mass shootings and the terrorist attack on the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida.