Trump’s out there bragging about some obscure polls that show him up. But this one is real. From ABC/Ipsos:
President Donald Trump‘s efforts to build his appeal and define his opponent at the Republican National Convention, using pageantry and the White House as the backdrop, had little apparent impact on the electorate’s impressions of both him and former Vice President Joe Biden, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds.
Trump’s week of celebration did not improve his favorability, even among his own base, and the country still remains widely critical of his handling of the major crisis of his presidency:
Less than one-third (31%) of the country has a favorable view of the president in the days after he accepted the Republican nomination for the second time — a stagnant reality for Trump. His favorability rating stood at 32% in the last poll, taken a week earlier, right after the Democratic National Convention.
Trump finds himself in a much different position than his chief rival.
In the new survey, which was conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel, Biden’s favorability remains higher than his unfavorability, 46% to 40%, solidifying his improvement in favorability from last week, when attitudes about the Democratic nominee improved to a net positive from his slightly underwater position prior to the convention.
Biden’s favorability ticked up from 40% in an Aug. 13 poll to 45% just after the Democratic convention.
Among Democrats, too, Biden’s favorability climbed seven points after his convention — showing signs that he’s solidified support among his base. But Trump’s favorability dipped slightly — by four points among Republicans in the newest survey.
Trump has slipped to 31% approval for his handling of he coronavirus but his numbers have come up among Republicans and whites (is there any other kind?) on his handling of racial unrest.
Most Americans (62%) view the incident with Blake, which has left him paralyzed from the waist down, as a sign of broader problems in the treatment of African Americans by police. But that number is not as stark as the 74% who said the same in the wake of the killing of Floyd.
The downward trend is driven by a decline across ideological and racial groups, but most sharply among Republicans and white Americans. The last time this question was posed by ABC News/Ipsos was in early June, when 55% of Republicans and 70% of whites said the fatal incident involving Floyd was a sign of a broader problematic pattern.
Now, only 27% of Republicans and 52% of whites say the same, a decrease of 28 and 18 points, respectively.
If Nate Silver is right, Trump’s desperate need to pull stunts around this will backfire on him and he’ll lose some of that support. Again.
In any case, a majority of people still don’t like him. Why would they?
The rest of this poll will be released and we’ll see a bunch of others in short order. We’ll see where we really stand then. ABC’s headline says the race has “stagnated” so stay tuned.