logo

Trump leaving office with lowest approval rating, CNN poll shows

Sunday, 17 January 2021


US President Donald Trump will leave office with the lowest approval rating of his presidency, according to a new CNN Poll, with more Americans than ever in support of removing him from office.

Overall, 34 per cent of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling the presidency, down from 42 per cent in a pre-election poll and one point below his previous low point in CNN's polling.

Among his partisans, Trump's approval rating has dropped 14 points since October but remains largely positive with 80 per cent approving. It has held steady in the low single digits among Democrats (3 per cent pre-election, 2 per cent now).

A majority, 54 per cent, says Trump ought to be removed from office before January 20 because of his role in the events of January 6, when Trump incited a mob of his supporters to storm the US Capitol.

That is larger than the share who favoured impeaching and removing Trump from office at any point in 2019 or early 2020 as the investigation which led to his first impeachment progressed to a Senate trial.

But the wide partisan gap that drove views on that question throughout that process continues now. Nearly all Democrats (93 per cent) favour removing Trump from office before January 20, but just 10 per cent of Republicans feels the same.

The survey was in the field as the House voted to impeach Trump for the second time, and there is no significant difference in support for Trump's removal before versus after the vote.

Over a third of Americans (36 per cent) call the January 6 attack on the US Capitol a crisis for American democracy, and another 39 per cent call it a major problem. Views on the significance of the attack are split by party, with most Democrats calling it a crisis (54 per cnet), and few Republicans in agreement (20 per cent).