President Donald Trump points to cheering supporters as he leaves a campaign rally, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019, in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Though Democrats continue to be in meltdown mode over the Iowa caucus debacle from last night, there is an even more pressing issue that they (still) haven’t figured out how to handle.
His name? Donald Trump.
In spite of the non-stop impeachment pushes, smear campaigns, and fake news stories that have been amplified since day one of his presidency, recent polling suggests that Trump’s approval rating with the American people is on the rise, especially when it comes to his handling of the economy.
This is something that not many in the pundit class are talking about right now in the midst of the Iowa chaos, but Cook Political Report national editor Amy Walter noticed the trend, and tweeted about it:
The real worry for Ds right now isn’t the IA caucus mess, it’s that: 1) latest Gallup has Trump at 49%, highest ever of his presidency; 2) other polls out this week show Trump on high end of his job approve range; and 1/2
— amy walter (@amyewalter) February 4, 2020
3) gap between strong disapprove of Trump and strong approve has narrowed in Trump’s favor. 2
— amy walter (@amyewalter) February 4, 2020
Furthermore, the same poll indicated Democrats were losing favorability points among voters:
New Gallup Poll also finds that public favorability of the Democrat Party slipping. 45% now have favorable view of Democrat Party, that's down from 48% favorable in September of last year.
— Alison, Queen of Skulls💀 🏳️🌈 (@RealAlisonPoole) February 4, 2020
Read more results from the Gallup poll here.
2 or 3 points may not seem like much but in the current political atmosphere we’re in right now with Trump having been impeached in December and then the media salivating that has followed ever since, you’d think the results would be just the opposite. You’d think Democrats’ favorability ratings would be on the rise and Trump’s approval ratings would have dropped into the 30s at this point.
But neither has happened. In fact, multiple polls suggest the effort to impeach Trump has backfired spectacularly against Democrats. He keeps chipping away bit by bit, with his numbers rising and numbers for the Democrats falling.
Of course, we still have several months to go before November and a lot can happen between now and then, but all indications are that the road to the White House for Democrats has become all that much harder to navigate, and – like with what happened in Iowa Monday – they only have themselves to blame for how things are turning out.
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