Tag: United States presidential approval rating

Our Philip Rucker explored one significant way in which Trump is very much unlike those past Republicans. “For Trump, this posture makes and preserves political power,” he writes. It’s the feeling of shared aggrievement that powers much of the support for Trump. Four times as many people who approved of Trump said it was because of his approach and personality as said it was due to his policies. There was uncertainty about whether Trump’s support among Republicans would erode, making Clinton’s path to victory easier, but Trump won 88 percent of the Republican vote. All the while, he’s continued to run against the elites and the establishment and Democrats. Pew has regularly tracked partisan feeling, finding that the two parties regard each other more negatively now than at any point in the past — and see each other as a threat to the country. Usually, high approval for a president among members of one party correlates to higher approval within the other party, too. After 9/11, George W. Bush was approved of by most Democrats, too. Trump is popular with Republicans now because he is focused on battling an enemy hated by most Republicans: Democrats.