What Americans think about Trump’s management of the government, according to a new AP-NORC poll

WASHINGTON (AP) — Approval of President Donald Trump’s way of running the government has fallen sharply since early in his second term, with much of the growing discontent coming from Republicans, according to a new AP-NORC poll.

Questionnaire Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research It was carried out after the Democrats Recent victories in off-year elections but before Congress takes major steps to end it longest shutdown in US history. This shows that only 33 percent of U.S. adults approve of the way the Republican president is running the government; AP-NORC poll in March.

This was largely due to declining approval among Republicans and independents. Only two-thirds of Republicans, 68%, said they approve of Trump’s handling of the government, according to the poll. This rate decreased compared to 81% in March. Independents’ approval fell from 38% to 25%.

The results highlight the risks posed by the shutdown, which Trump and his administration have tried to attribute directly to Democrats, as have U.S. adults. put the blame on both sides The funding cut has disrupted air traffic, left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay and food aid to some of the most vulnerable Americans. But it could also point to broader discontent with other dramatic and polarizing changes Trump has made to the federal government in recent months. waves of mass layoffs.

Approval of Trump’s handling of government is eroding among Republicans

The fact that Republicans are generally steadfast in their support for the president makes their growing discontent particularly striking.

“I’m completely uncomfortable with the government being shut down for nearly 40 days,” said Beverly Lucas, 78, a Republican and retired educator who lives in Ormond Beach, Fla., and likened Trump’s second term to “having a petulant child with unlimited power in the White House.”

“When people were hungry, they were partying,” he said, referring to a Great Gatsby-themed Halloween party held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. “I thought you looked emotionless.”

The poll found that an overwhelming majority of Democrats (95%) continue to disapprove of Trump’s handling of the federal government, compared to 89% in March.

Trump’s overall approval remains steady

Trump’s overall approval rating remained steady in the new poll, despite declining support for his government management. About a third of U.S. adults, 36 percent, approve of his overall handling of the presidency; That’s roughly in line with the 37 percent in the October AP-NORC poll. Approval for his handling of important issues like immigration and the economy also hasn’t changed much since last month.

It has emerged as a key issue in the health care shutdown debate. Democrats demanded He says Republicans are negotiating with them to extend tax credits that expire Jan. 1. However, Trump’s already very low approval rating on this issue remained almost unchanged.

In the November poll, nearly a third of Americans, or 34%, said they approved of the way Trump is handling health care; This rate in October was 31%.

And many of his supporters are still behind him. Republican Susan McDuffie, 74, who lives in Carson City, Nevada, and retired several years ago, said she has “great confidence in Trump” and thinks the country is on the right track. He blames Democrats for the shutdown and the pain it caused.

“I don’t understand how Democrats care so little about the public,” he said, scoffing at the idea that Democrats were trying to use the shutdown to force Republicans to address soon-to-skyrocketing healthcare costs.

“I have no patience for the Democrats and their ridiculous excuses,” he said, adding that people who are afraid of this situation SNAP benefits The more pressing issue is when it expires and you’re having trouble putting food on the table.

Lots of accusations to go around

There’s still a lot of blame to go around when it comes to closure. Latest polls Although Republicans are under slightly more pressure, many think Democrats are also at fault.

“I really believe everyone is. Everybody’s being stubborn,” said Nora Bailey, 33, a moderate who lives in Batesville, Arkansas, and is aligned with neither party.

After giving birth recently, she said she encountered delays in getting a breast pump through a government program that helps new mothers while her son was in intensive care. She also worries about her disabled parents, who rely on SNAP food stamp benefits.

Overall, she said she’s mixed about the way Trump is running the business and disapproves of his management of the federal government because she believes he doesn’t go far enough to combat waste.

“I don’t see enough being done to tell me we’re shrinking the federal government instead of taking in this many people,” he said.

If the government reopens, it’s possible that Trump’s approval of the federal government’s conduct could be restored. But the showdown could have a more lasting impact on perceptions of the president, whose approval on the economy and immigration has weakened somewhat since the spring.

Lucas, a Florida Republican, said shutdowns that leave civilians without pay are the wrong way to resolve ideological disagreement.

“Air traffic controllers? Really? Don’t you want to pay people who have your lives in their hands every day?” he said. “We need to handle these conflicts like smart people, not like thugs and bullies on the playground.”

___ Colvin reported from New York.

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AP-NORC’s survey of 1,143 adults was conducted Nov. 6-10 using a sample from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. Overall, the margin of sampling error for adults is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.