Poll: President Trump's Approval Rating Dips To 37 Percent
By Veronica Stracqualursi
WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Donald Trump's approval rating has dipped back below 40 percent, a new poll released Wednesday found.
Trump's approval rating stands at 37 percent, slightly down from 40 percent approval earlier this month, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University released Wednesday. A majority of Americans, 58 percent, disapprove of the President's job performance.
Trump had seen a slight rise in his approval rating following his State of the Union speech.
Four in 10 Americans, 40 percent, say they like the President's policies, but only 3 in 10, 30 percent, say they like Trump as a person. Of Republican voters, 89 percent like Trump's policies, but only 68 percent like him as a person.
The Department of Justice announced on Friday indictments against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for allegedly interfering in the 2016 US election, including enlisting "unwitting" Americans to coordinate political activities and using social media to support Trump and disparage Hillary Clinton.
In the new Quinnipiac poll, despite what the President believes, more Americans think the Russian government tried to influence the 2016 election -- 76 percent, compared with 68 percent in January. Sixty-eight percent are concerned that the Kremlin will try to interfere in the midterm elections this year. A broad 70 percent of Democrats are "very concerned," compared with 43 percent of independents and 13 percent of Republicans.
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More than half of Americans, 57 percent, disapprove of the way Trump has responded to the potential threat of Russian meddling in the midterms.
The White House's handling of Rob Porter
Rob Porter, who was serving as Trump's staff secretary, resigned two weeks ago amid allegations that he had abused two of his ex-wives. He has denied the allegations. CNN reported that some of Trump's top aides had not removed Porter from his post and had considered promoting him despite being briefed by the FBI on the allegations months ago and knowing Porter was operating without a permanent security clearance.
A majority of Americans, 55 percent, believe Trump failed to appropriately respond, with a larger portion of voters, 59 percent, disapproving of the administration's handling of the Porter allegations. Sixty-five percent did not approve of the decision to let Porter keep his job even after White House officials were informed of the allegations.
Three out of four Americans, 73 percent, think someone who has been accused of domestic violence by multiple people should not be allowed to have a security clearance.
The Quinnipiac poll was conducted February 16-19 among 1,249 voters nationwide, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. Voters were reached via cellphone or landline.
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