Although President Trump’s 2020 re-election chances have been augmented by a booming economy, the president has consistently found himself polling underwater in terms of net approval rating. But a new Gallup poll suggests that may soon be changing: Trump now polls at the best approval rating of his entire presidency to-date.
Per The Hill:
President Trump’s approval rating reached new heights in the second half of April, according to the Gallup poll, as nearly half of voters gave him positive marks.
Trump’s approval rating ticked up to 46 percent, up slightly from 45 percent in the first part of April and the highest mark to date for Trump in the Gallup poll.
It comes on the heels of strong economic numbers and the largely favorable outcome of the Russia investigation.
Naturally, the bulk of that 46% approval rating comes due to Republican support: As The Hill observes, “Trump remains overwhelmingly popular among Republicans, 91 percent of whom gave the president positive marks in the latest Gallup poll.”
Perhaps most notably, however, is which presidents Trump now polls better than at an equivalent juncture of his presidency. Among those whom the 45th president polls superior to now is his immediate predecessor, Barack Obama.
Right-leaning poll junkie Josh Jordan tweeted: “Gallup – Presidential job approval at this point in the first term: Carter 37 Reagan 43 HW Bush 76 Clinton 51 W Bush 70 Obama 44 Trump 46[.] Suddenly Trump is higher than Carter, Reagan, and Obama in approval via Gallup. Pretty stunning considering where Trump’s approval has been.”
As National Review notes, Trump’s previous high approval rating in the Gallup poll was 45% — a figure which he has reached on three separate occasions.
However, there are still some distressing polling signs for Trump’s re-election prospects. As The Daily Wire reported on Friday, Trump currently trails many individual Democratic presidential candidates in head-to-head polling. According to prediction market website PredictIt.org, Democrats are currently more likely than are Republicans to possess the White House on January 21, 2021. Perhaps surprisingly, it is former congressman Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) who currently polls best against the incumbent commander-in-chief.
The soaring economy is perhaps Trump’s single best data point pointing toward a possible re-election. Democratic strategist Mark Mellman recently took to The Hill to warn his fellow Democrats that the 2020 presidential election must be fought on political terrain that extends beyond the economy:
Last week, one of my very smart, and very distinguished, colleagues told The Washington Post in no uncertain terms that the 2020 “election is going to be about the economy.”
Unless something changes dramatically, Democrats better hope my friend is wrong, because that’s an election we will likely lose. …
If politics were merely a reflection of economics, and Trump was a normal president (he’s not), his approval rating would be 10 to 20 points higher than it is.
Something’s holding his approval rating far below its “natural” level.
Instead of attacking uphill, let’s figure out what’s already holding Trump down and focus 2020 on that.