A lot of Americans spent 2017 bailing on the Republican Party
For much of 2017, President Trump’s poll numbers have been pretty consistent. In its most recent weekly average, Gallup has Trump at 36 percent approval — within two points of where he’s been since July. Trump is where he is because, while Democrats hate him and independents generally view him negatively, he continues to enjoy high approval ratings from Republicans. Eighty-two percent of those in his own party approve of Trump, as of last week. That’s pretty good, but not good enough to keep Trump’s overall approval from being historically low for a modern president.
The problem for Trump may not only be that only Republicans like him, but that there are fewer Republicans than there were a year ago.
Last week, Gallup reported that the gap in partisan identity between Republicans and Democrats was 7 points — narrower than during the summer but still wider than it was at this point last year. In other words, the percentage of Americans who say that they are Democrats or independents who tend to vote Democratic is 7 percentage points higher than the percentage who identify as Republican or Republican-leaning.
Why?
“Democrats’ edge has expanded this year mainly because of a decline in Republican affiliation,” Gallup’s Jeffrey Jones wrote. “A year ago, 44% of Americans identified as Democrats or leaned Democratic, the same percentage as now. However, Republican identification and leaning is five points lower than it was a year ago.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/a-lot-of-americans-spent-2017-bailing-on-the-republican-party/ar-BBGCFro?li=BBnbcA1&ocid=edgsp
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