President Trump’s job approval rating plummets after mob attack at the Capitol
Joey GarrisonWASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s job approval rating has plummeted, tying the lowest point of his presidency, following last week’s mob attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In a new Quinnipiac University poll released Monday, 33% of American voters said they approve how Trump is handling his job, a dramatic drop of 11 percentage points since December when 44% said they approved of his job performance. Sixty percent of voters disapprove of his job performance.
It's the lowest mark for Trump since Aug. 2, 2017, when it was also at 33%. That drop came after the Senate rejected Trump's attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act and Anthony Scaramucci was removed as White House communications director just 10 days into the job.
Among Democrats, 94% disapprove of Trump’s job performance and 4% approve. Seventy-one percent of Republican voters approve of Trump’s job performance, while 20% disapprove. Independent voters, by a margin of 65% to 28%, disapprove of his job performance.
Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide
The poll found 56% of voters hold Trump responsible for storming the Capitol, while 42% said they do not hold him responsible.
A slight majority of voters, 52%, said Trump should be removed from office, while 45% of respondents said he should not. A slightly higher percentage, 53% to 43%, said he should resign as president.
"A majority of Americans hold President Trump responsible for the chaos at the Capitol, and a slight majority believe that he should be removed from office," said Tim Malloy, a Quinnipiac University polling analyst.
The poll of 1,239 self-identified registered voters nationwide was taken from Jan. 7 to Jan. 10. It has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
After his election loss to President-elect Joe Biden, Trump is set to exit the White House on Jan. 20. But he first faces an impeachment effort from Democrats, who want Trump removed from office for inspiring a group of pro-Trump rioters to storm the Capitol while electoral votes were being counted.
The poll found 74% of voters believe that democracy in America is under threat while just 21% said it is alive and well.
Sixty percent of the poll’s respondents said Trump is undermining democracy, while 34% said he’s protecting democracy. Among Republican voters, 73% said Trump is protecting democracy and only 20% said he is undermining democracy.
"When it comes to whether American democracy is under threat,” Malloy said, “both Republicans and Democrats see a raging five-alarm fire, but clearly disagree on who started it.”
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.