Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) revealed Tuesday that polls matter when they reflect poorly on President Donald Trump but are alternatively meaningless when Schumer himself is implicated as an incredibly unpopular politician.
After Senate Democrats’ weekly caucus lunch meeting, Schumer ambled over to reporters to recycle his usual anti-Trump rhetoric, this time framed as a critique of the president’s first 100 days in office.
“There is a feeling of incompetence, of indecision, and chaos eating away at much of the country,” said Schumer, “and that is emanating from the man who’s in charge, Donald Trump.”
Schumer claimed that the costs of cars, clothing, energy, and groceries are up, whereas “your retirement and 401Ks — down. The stock market? Down. The dollar — down. And today, we saw the trend continue. Consumer confidence? Down.”
‘Are you concerned that you may be a liability for your party?’
“Americans are noticing,” continued the Democrat. “The polls this week show Trump has the lowest 100-day approval rating since they started polling 80 years ago. The lowest. Even worse, 72% of Americans think it’s likely that Trump’s handling of the economy will walk us directly into a recession.”
A CNN poll conducted by SSRS indicated Sunday that Trump’s approval rating was 41%, the same result reached by a recent poll by the Economist/YouGov. An NPR/PBS News/Marist poll released Tuesday put the president’s approval rating at 42%. Emerson College and Rasmussen Reports polls both put Trump’s approval several points higher, at 45% and 50%, respectively.
Several minutes after using recent approval polls to attack Trump, CNN reporter Manu Raju asked Schumer, “There’s a poll out today that has your approval rating lower than any other congressional leader at 17%. Are you concerned that you may be a liability for your party?”
‘We are focusing on how bad Trump is.’
The Democratic senator’s approval rating is less than half of what Trump is netting at his worst.
While Schumer’s average approval rating is 27.9%, according to RealClearPolitics, the CNN poll that put the president at 41% indicated Schumer’s approval rating was 17% — the New York senator’s worst approval numbers in a CNN poll going back eight years.
Later Tuesday, CNN talking head Kaitlan Collins told Schumer that while the poll showed a dip in Trump’s approval, “It’s not exactly great for your party, either, because Democrats, or people who lean Democrat, according to CNN’s latest poll, say that they’re not satisfied with your party’s leadership.”
After highlighting Schumer’s abysmal approval rating and noting that 61% of respondents who identified as Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party disapproved of its leadership, Collins asked Schumer, “Is that concerning to you?”
Schumer answered, “No,” then engaged in a few moments of cable news filibustering.
Collins later circled back to her question, pressing Schumer about how his approval rating bottomed out during Trump’s first 100 days back in the White House.
“Look, the polls come and go, OK?” said Schumer. “I’ve been through all the years, and I’ve seen them. I pay attention to doing the right thing. And when you do the right thing, things work out all right. We are doing the right thing. We are focusing on how bad Trump is.”
Although Schumer said he’s not concerned about his unpopularity, he should be since there is considerable interest among New Yorkers in having someone else take his seat.
A survey conducted in late March by the liberal firm Data for Progress found that in a head-to-head matchup, 55% of Democratic likely voters would support Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whereas only 36% supported or leaned toward backing Schumer.
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