Fox News Poll: Storms erode Trump's ratings

Was it the tweet storms or the hurricanes?  Something hit President Trump’s numbers.  His personal ratings have deteriorated and his job approval has hit a low.

Thirty-eight percent of voters approve of the job Trump is doing in a new Fox News poll, down from 42 percent last month.  At the same time, disapproval is up 4 points to a high of 57 percent.  That includes 49 percent who “strongly” disapprove.

Some of the drop comes from white men without a college degree, as 56 percent approve of the president, down from 68 percent last month.  Working-class white men were a key voting bloc for him in the election (71 percent backed Trump according to the Fox News Exit Poll).

READ THE FULL POLL RESULTS.

Also, his approval among white evangelical Christians went from 74 percent last month to 66 percent now.  Eighty percent backed him in the election.

Approval among independents fell to 30 percent (46 percent of independents voted for Trump).

Republican support held steady at 83 percent approval.

John Kelly bests his boss:  42 percent approve of the job the White House chief of staff is doing, while 30 percent disapprove.  Twenty-nine percent of voters are unable to rate him, including 25 percent of Republicans.  Fewer Republicans approve of Kelly (69 percent) than Trump (83 percent).  Yet more than three times as many Democrats approve of Kelly (24 vs. 7 percent).

Thirty-three percent think Trump is honest and trustworthy, though that’s hardly changed from just before the election when 35 percent felt that way (November 2016).

Roughly 4-in-10 think Trump has the knowledge (38 percent), compassion (37 percent), and judgment (37 percent) to serve effectively as president.

A similar 38 percent believe Trump “cares about people like me,” while 6-in-10 disagree (60 percent).  Those most likely to feel he doesn’t care include non-whites (79 percent), women (68 percent), voters under age 45 (68 percent), and lower-income voters (67 percent).

Trump’s favorability stands at 39 percent.  That’s down from 44 percent in August, and a high of 47 percent in June.  His unfavorable number is 59 percent.

Voters are more favorable toward Melania Trump than her husband, but her numbers have taken a hit too.  She’s at 45 percent favorable and 34 percent unfavorable.  It was 51-28 percent in June.

The White House receives mixed marks for its response to recent disasters.  Voters give net positive ratings for the response to the hurricanes that hit Houston (+7 points) and Florida (+2), but sharply negative ratings to how it responded to the Puerto Rico hurricane (-32), mass shooting in Las Vegas (-23), and the California wildfires (-21).

Meanwhile, 60 percent disapprove of how Trump’s handling health care.  One third approves (33 percent).  At a net negative 27, that makes health care his worst issue rating.  He performs better -- but is still underwater -- on North Korea (-24 points), Iran (-21), taxes (-14), and the economy (-5).

President Obama’s signature law remains divisive.  Twenty-five percent would repeal the health care law entirely (near the low of 23 percent wanting repeal), while another 31 percent would repeal parts of the law.  On the other hand, a record 29 percent would expand it, and 13 percent would leave it as is.

When asked to look ahead 10 years, most voters expect at least some of the law will be changed:  21 percent expect it to be repealed entirely, up from 16 percent in 2015.   Nearly half, 47 percent, say parts will be repealed.  Fewer than one in four thinks it will be either expanded (14 percent) or left alone (9 percent).

What happens with health care carries more risk than reward for Republicans.  The poll shows about the same number would credit Obama or the Democrats in Congress (37 percent) as Trump or the Republicans (33 percent) if the health insurance system improves.  If the system gets worse, however, twice as many would blame Trump or the GOP (48 percent) as Democrats or Obama (22 percent).

In addition, a record 54 percent of voters have a favorable opinion of ObamaCare.  Forty-two percent view it negatively.

Pollpourri

Voters like their past presidents more than their current one: 63 percent have a favorable opinion of Obama, and 59 percent view George W. Bush positively.

Among Trump voters, the president receives his largest negative rating on trust, as 14 percent say he is dishonest.  Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), himself once a Trump supporter, tweeted about the president’s dishonesty Tuesday, “Same untruths from an utterly untruthful president.”  That was in response to the president tweeting, in part, that Coker had decided against running for reelection “when I refused to endorse him.”

Overall, 57 percent of voters disapprove of Trump’s tweets, while 30 percent “wish he’d be more cautious.”  Only 11 percent approve.  Even Trump voters aren’t as enamored as they once were:  25 percent approve of his tweeting, down from 35 percent in March.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,005 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from October 22-24, 2017.  The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters.