2017 US Politics - Trump is Struggling to Improve his Approval Rating (June 21)

Listen to The Point Being, a podcast from the Ipsos Polling Team, where Chris Jackson and Phil Elwood discuss this week’s numbers.

Healthcare continues to dominate the news cycle, cementing its place as Americans’ top priority. Nearly one in five Americans (19%) say healthcare is the most important problem facing the US, followed by terrorism (15%) and the economy generally (12%). As Republicans in Congress draft the latest healthcare bill, President Trump’s approval on healthcare reform continues to drop, now four percentage points lower than last week (currently 35%).

Overall, Trump is struggling to improve his approval rating, which is approaching the lowest it’s been since he’s taken office (currently 38%). Overall, across all specific approval attributes, Trump’s approval numbers are down this week. He has maintained constant support on the US economy (43%), employment and jobs (45%) and dealing with ISIS/ISIL (46%). On the other side of the spectrum, the environment (32%), the way he treats people like me (33%) and corruption (35%) are consistently areas with room for improvement. Unsurprisingly, nearly two thirds of Americans now believe the US is off on the wrong track (63%), with a shrinking number of Republicans believing we’re heading in the right direction (47%).

These are findings from an Ipsos poll conducted for Thomson Reuters June 16-20, 2017 For the survey, a sample of 1,544 Americans, ages 18+ were interviewed online.