White male supporters flee Trump as his latest approval rating plunges

Things aren’t looking up for President Donald Trump, a man long obsessed with ratings of any sort. His approval rating took another dip this week.

Just 34 percent of the country approved of the job Trump is doing, down from 44.1 percent in March, according to the latest survey this week from Investor’s Business Daily/TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence (IBD/TIPP). The president’s approval rating remained well underwater, with 56 percent of the respondents disapproving of his job performance.

Some key supporters have begun to migrate away from Trump, notably Republicans, independents and white men. Trump’s approval among Republicans dropped to just 74 percent, a 14-percentage-point tumble from last month, according to IBD/TIPP. His approval among independents fell 11 percentage points to 29 percent. Among white men, one of Trump’s strongest demographic bases, his approval rating fell from 58 percent to 49 percent.

A Quinnipiac poll released this week found similar results to those of the IBD/TIPP survey. It found that overall, just 35 percent of voters approved of Trump’s job performance. The poll also noted that a majority of men and a plurality of white voters disapproved of the president.

A set of high-profile failures and controversies have affected how people view the president’s job performance. The Trump-backed American Health Care Act failed before it could get off the ground, although a new version of an Obamacare replacement may be on the horizon. There’s also the ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign’s potential cooperation with Russia in its alleged efforts to get the Republican nominee elected over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

“As his ambitious agenda encounters some obstacles in Congress, President Trump’s approval ratings have declined,” said Raghavan Mayur, president of TechnoMetrica and director of the IBD/TIPP poll in a statement. “The media’s persistently negative coverage of President Trump, especially regarding the ongoing Russian investigation, has also taken a toll on his approval numbers.”

Other firms that measure approval rating have found similarly dismal results for Trump. Gallup, for instance, pegged it at 39 percent with 55 percent disapproval Monday.