President Donald Trump's approval rating took a hit on Friday following his angry televised White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
A poll conducted by Quantus Insights between February 24 to 26 of about 1,000 registered voters on Thursday found Trump’s approval rating was 51%, with 45% disapproving, leaving the net positive at six points.
This is down from the 53 percent approval and nine point net positive that Trump enjoyed when The Wall Street Journal poll of February 10-12 was conducted. Both surveys had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
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“The economy remains a point of contention, with mixed reviews from Independents and sharp partisan divides. If economic conditions improve, Trump may see a boost in approval, but uncertainty in this area remains a challenge,” Quantus Insights said on its website.
Economic woes impact Trump's popularity
Similarly, The Economist/YouGov polling has tracked a downward trend. A survey between February 16 and 18 among 1,603 U.S. adults placed Trump’s approval rating at 50 percent, with 45 percent disapproving. By February 23-25, his approval rating dropped to 48 percent, while disapproval remained unchanged. Both polls had a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.
{{/usCountry}}Similarly, The Economist/YouGov polling has tracked a downward trend. A survey between February 16 and 18 among 1,603 U.S. adults placed Trump’s approval rating at 50 percent, with 45 percent disapproving. By February 23-25, his approval rating dropped to 48 percent, while disapproval remained unchanged. Both polls had a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.
{{/usCountry}}Significantly, this is also true in the polls that have already been taken, with many of them showing Trump’s popularity surging after his second term began, but the new data indicates that economic concerns may be taking their toll on him. Trump’s approval rating on the economy dropped by 1 point to 45 percent in the latest Economist/YouGov poll.
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A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 53 percent of Americans believe the economy is on the wrong track, up from 43 percent in January.
Trump’s recent tariffs on Canadian, Mexican, and Chinese goods worry them about increased inflation. These tariffs could raise inflation by 1 percent, hurt company profits, and increase the probability of trade retaliation, Goldman Sachs estimated.