POLL: Trump’s Approval Reaches All-Time High

Despite the mainstream media hair-on-fire headlines last week, President Donald Trump is enjoying his highest approval rating of all time, according to a Sunday poll from The Wall Street Journal and NBC News.

The WSJ/NBC poll found Trump’s job approval rating at 45%, one percentage point higher than his June high; while 52% of those polled disapproved. Unsurprisingly, Trump excelled when it came to the economy, hitting 50% approval and 34% disapproval with the American people.

Trump is anchored by 88% Republican support (combined “strongly” and “somewhat” job approval). As noted by NewsMax, “Only George W. Bush had a higher approval rating in the Republican Party at the same point in his presidency.”

“During what is a terrible week in terms of media coverage and focus on the president, these numbers don’t budge,” Republican pollster Bill McInturff told the WSJ of the Republican numbers.

“The more Trump gets criticized by the media, the more his base seems to rally behind him,” added Democratic pollster Fred Yang.

Forty-six percent of Independents and 80% of Democrats “strongly disapprove” of the President’s job; only 5% of Republicans polled the same.

The survey was taken over a four-day period, starting on July 15, one day before Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. The meeting was met with criticism from pundits on both sides of the aisle and downright hysteria from cable news. However, it polled extremely well with the Republican electorate, with 79% of Republicans approving of the Trump/Putin summit, per an Axios/SurveyMonkey poll.

Overall, Trump’s approval for his “relationship with Russia” is only at 26%, with 51% disapproval.

“I think he is trying to build relations with Russia so that we do not have a war,” a Republican respondent from Florida, Frank Garrido, told pollsters. “It is better to talk to [Putin] than to not. I think the Democrats are just maniacs.”

Other notable takeaways from the poll, as highlighted by NewsMax:

53 percent say that recently imposed tariffs would hurt the average American
45 percent disapprove of the way Trump is handling trade between the U.S. and foreign countries
56 percent say immigration helps the U.S. more than it hurts
46 percent say special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the election should continue

Those polled identified the economy and jobs as the most important issue for them when deciding their vote come November; health care, immigration, and guns followed respectively.