With an impeachment acquittal now behind him and Democrats fighting amongst themselves in a presidential primary, President Donald Trump has seen a steady increase in his approval ratings in recent weeks.
The Washington Examiner reported that President Trump’s increased approval appears to have come in large part from independent voters, as he already enjoyed overwhelming support from Republicans and remains hated by the vast majority of Democrats.
Trump approval numbers up
In the latest poll from Gallup, President Trump registered a 49% approval rating, which remained unchanged from the most recent previous poll from late January but was up five points from early January — prior to the impeachment trial — and up 10 points from a poll in October of 2019 during the thick of the impeachment inquiry in the House.
Along ideological lines, Gallup found that Trump had the approval of 93% of Republicans but only 6% of Democrats. Among independent voters, though, Trump had the approval of 43%, the highest rating among that group in Gallup’s history of polls regarding President Trump.
Though Trump’s acquittal in the partisan effort to remove him from office undoubtedly had an impact on his numbers, Gallup actually pointed to an increasingly positive outlook on the state of the nation and the booming economy as the most likely reasons for the president’s increased support.
Movement among independents
Looking at Gallup’s presidential approval tracking poll, the rise in support among independent voters becomes even clearer. The 43% approval rating for the first half of February is six points higher than the 37% approval he registered among those same voters in the first half of January, prior to the conclusion of the impeachment trial.
Going back further in the poll tracker, it was revealed that, save for a 42% rating in December of 2019, the president’s approval among independents tended to range in the mid-30s throughout most of that year.
The same could even be seen throughout the latter half of 2018, which represented an increase over an average approval in the low 30s through the first half of 2018 and most of 2017.
In other words, President Trump has slowly but surely gained support and expanded his base of potential votes from independents throughout his tenure in office.
Support for Trump grows
Meanwhile, the RealClearPolitics average of national polls showed President Trump with an approval rating of 46% and a disapproval rating of 51% for a net spread of -5 points.
That margin is a significant improvement over just one month ago on January 22, when Trump’s approval and disapproval ratings stood at 44% and 52.6%, respectively, for a spread of -8.6 points. In all likelihood, that change most likely came from independent voters, as the vast majority of partisans on the Democrat and Republican sides have been dug-in on their positions for quite some time.
This is all great news for President Trump and his bid for re-election in November, and if this trend continues, Democrats will have little hope of ousting him from office come Election Day.
No comments: