US President Donald Trump’s job approval ratings since he began his tenure in the White House were never that good. The latest figure released by the Gallup poll put the president’s approval rating at 34% with 60% of those survey saying they disapprove of his job performance.
So what are possible factors that made an unpopular president even more unpopular? According to Newsweek, there are some reasons that contributed to President Donald Trump's declining job approval ratings.
Russian probe
First is the continuing FBI investigation of the Russian interference during the 2016 US elections.
The latest report from the Washington Post revealed that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is looking into the finances of two former campaign advisers of the president namely, Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort in connection with the ongoing Russian probe.
Apart from putting Trump in a continuous negative media spotlight, the results of the Russian probe could potentially end the president’s term prematurely, either by his resignation or removal from office.
North Korea
The ongoing tension with North Korea about its ballistic missile program and the war of words between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was also seen as contributing factor to Trump's low approval rating.
There were criticisms to the US President’s threat to unleash “fire and fury like the world have never seen“ on North Korea and his later comment that the statement “wasn’t tough enough.” In response, North Korea threatened to hit the US territory of Guam.
Charlottesville statements
The biggest controversy that embroiled the president in the past few weeks was the white supremacist protest in Charlottesville, Va., which became violent and resulted in the death of a counter protestor and injuring many others.
The president’s series of statement which blamed both sides for the violence and initially refusing to specifically condemn white supremacist groups such as the Klu Klux Klan, neo Nazi groups, and others drew condemnations from both sides of the political aisle.
However, according to Nate Silver’s 538 website, which analyzed Trump’s numbers, it still isn’t entirely clear how the president’s reaction to the violence in Charlottesville affected the US president’s job approval ratings. It pointed out the latest analysis, which showed the average approval rating of Trump was slightly down while his disapproval is only slightly up.
Still declining
It was also pointed out by the 538 website that overall trend in President Donald Trump’s ratings so far has been toward decline. If such a trend continuous, Trump’s approval ratings would “fall into the low 20’s by midterms.”
