Trump disapproval grows as shutdown drags onward

Donald Trump appears to be walling himself off from much of the American public.

Thanks in large part to his role in the ongoing partial government shutdown over his demand for a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico, a growing number of U.S. voters disapproves of the job Trump is doing as president, according to several new polls.

Overall, 65 percent of adults surveyed in a new AP-NORC poll said they disapproved of Trump’s job performance, while just 34 percent said they approved. Just one month earlier, before Trump made his demand that Congress approve $5.7 billion for partial construction of a border barrier, 56 percent of Americans polled by AP-NORC said they disapproved of Trump’s job performance, while 42 percent said they approved.

Among the worrisome findings for Trump and Republicans in the AP-NORC poll: 71 percent of independents, 71 percent of women and 76 percent of college graduates said they disapproved of Trump’s job performance. Trump’s disapproval rate jumped by double digits with each of those three groups when compared with the results of December’s poll.

Given Trump’s Dec. 11 declaration that he was “proud to shut down the government for border security” and his further assurance that he would not attempt to blame congressional Democrats for doing so, it is perhaps no surprise that 60 percent of Americans say the president bears a great deal of responsibility for the shutdown. Thirty-one percent place the same blame on Democrats, while 36 percent surveyed gave that credit to Republicans.

The bad news was not limited to one survey, either. A Morning Consult/Politico poll found Trump’s disapproval level hitting 57 percent, the highest point registered by that survey. Forty percent of registered voters said they approved of Trump’s job performance.

Even Rasmussen, a decidedly more Republican friendly polling organization, showed Trump had reached 56 percent disapproval in its daily tracking poll on Wednesday, while 44 percent still approve of the president’s job performance.

On Jan. 10, a Gallup poll found disapproval of Trump had reached 59 percent, while 37 percent of those surveyed said they approved of his job performance.

One bright spot for the president was his continued support among Republicans.

Nearly 80 percent of GOP voters contacted by AP-NORC said they approved of his job performance. Eighty-one percent of Republican voters surveyed by Morning Consult/Politico said they strongly or somewhat approve of Trump’s job performance.

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