Trump grades himself an A+. Voters don't agree.
Nearly half of voters give Trump a failing grade for his first two years as president, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.
By STEVEN SHEPARD
Donald Trump’s midterm report card is in, and few voters are giving the president high marks after two years in office.
A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll asked voters to assign a letter grade to Trump at the halfway point of his term in the White House, and only a combined 34 percent gave the first-time officeholder an “A” (17 percent) or “B” (17 percent) grade.
That’s fewer than the 38 percent who gave Trump a failing, “F” grade for his first two years as president. Another 10 percent gave Trump a “D,” while 13 percent graded him a “C.”
A large majority of Democratic voters, 73 percent, flunk Trump, giving him an “F.” That’s nearly twice the 40 percent of Republicans who give Trump an “A,” though another 35 percent give him a “B.”
Trump, meanwhile, has regularly assigned himself the highest marks, rating his job performance an "A+" compared to past presidents.
The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll was conducted Jan. 18-22, and it comes not just at a milestone moment of Trump’s presidency — but also a precarious one.
It’s been more than three months since the GOP was pummeled in the midterm elections, and just over a month since critical parts of the federal government shut down after Congress refused to fund the proposed border wall Trump has championed since 2015. Results from the POLITICO/Morning Consult released earlier this week show the percentage of voters who disapprove of Trump’s job performance reaching a new high: 57 percent.
And looking ahead to 2020, 56 percent of voters say they would definitely or probably vote for someone else in the presidential election next year — significantly greater than the 35 percent who would definitely or probably vote to reelect Trump.
On the poll’s midterm report card, Trump earns the highest marks for his presidency on jobs and the economy. Those were the only two issues for which more voters in the poll gave the president an “A” or “B” grade than assigned him a “D” or “F.” A combined 40 percent gave Trump an “A” or “B” on jobs, and another 38 percent gave him one of the top two grades on the economy.
The fewest voters gave Trump an “A” or “B” for dealing with climate change and global warming (19 percent combined), draining the swamp (20 percent), health care (22 percent) and the national debt (23 percent).
While Trump has two years left in his term to turn things around — and slightly less than that to sell Americans on giving him a second term — few voters think his performance will get better, according to Tyler Sinclair, Morning Consult’s vice president.
“Voter confidence in President Trump is sagging, according to our polling,” said Sinclair. “Notably, 42 percent of voters expect his performance to worsen over the next two years, including 74 percent of Democrats and 41 percent of independents. This compares with just 26 percent who expect it to improve, and 24 percent who say it will stay the same.”
The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll surveyed 1,996 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
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