President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, once his strongest issue with voters, may now be pummeling his approval ratings.
On Friday’s broadcast of CNN News Central, CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten said the president’s immigration policies and handling of subsequent protests have been “awful, awful, awful” for his ratings. In fact, Trump is now sitting at the lowest approval rating of his second term.
“This is simply put, one of the worst polling weeks for Donald Trump that we’ve seen,” Enten told viewers on Friday.
The CNN analyst cited two polls, one from Quinnipiac University released June 11 and one from AP-NORC released June 12, which place the president’s approval rating at just 38 percent and 39 percent, respectively. According to CNN’s poll tracker, that places the president at a 3-point drop in both polls.
In short, Enten says the president is “very much way way way underwater.”
While the president’s overall approval rating has suffered, Enten says things are looking especially dire when it comes to his immigration policies.
According to CNN’s aggregate, Trump’s approval rating on the specific issue of immigration has dropped a staggering six points in the last two weeks as ICE raids spark protests nationwide.
Where Trump’s approval rating on immigration sat at +4 on June 1, by Friday morning, it had dropped to -2.
“They have turned against the president on his core strength,” said Enten of Trump’s supporters. “He is now underwater on the issue that has been strongest for him.”
The drop in approval for Trump’s handling of immigration marks a major change in voters’ perception of the president, who has previously leaned on immigration as one of his strongest issues among supporters.
Just four days ago, on Monday, Enten said on CNN News Central that Trump’s approval rating on immigration had “gone up like a rocket” since his first term.
In fact, Enten said his high rating had emboldened the president to send National Guard troops into Los Angeles on June 8, as he believed stoking conflict with California Gov. Gavin Newsom would help his approval ratings.
“Trump is begging for a fight on this because he knows what he’s doing so far is working with the American electorate,” Enten told host John Berman on June 9.
Now, the CNN data chief says the tactic was far from successful.
“I said at the beginning of this week that Donald Trump wanted this fight,” said Enten during Friday’s broadcast. “Maybe he shouldn’t have.”
Also hurting Trump’s approval rating is his planned military parade, scheduled for Saturday to celebrate his 79th birthday. According to the AP-NORC poll, which Enten referenced on Friday morning’s broadcast, a whopping 60 percent of respondents across the political spectrum said the parade was not a good use of government funds, while just 38 percent said it was a good use.
This is not the first time Trump’s approval ratings have fluctuated dramatically since he took office in January. As Enten noted in Friday’s broadcast, the president’s numbers also plummeted around the 100th day of his presidency on April 30.
On April 29, CNN News Central reported that the president’s approval rating had dropped to just 41 percent. It was the lowest rating of any president approaching the 100th day of their term since modern pollsters started tracking presidential approval ratings during the Eisenhower administration.
Just six weeks earlier, the president had reached his highest approval rating to date in an NBC poll, which placed him at 47 percent among all respondents.
At the time, 55 percent of respondents in the NBC poll said they approved of his immigration policy, while CNN reported the number as 51 percent.
Now, the AP-NORC poll reports that number is down to 46 percent. The Quinnipiac poll is even more dire, placing the rating at just 43 percent.
“At this point,” said Enten on Friday, “He’s much more towards the trough of his popularity than the crest of it.”
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