Trump’s support drops to lowest level ever: Survey

New York, Oct 30 (IANS) Public support for US President Donald Trump fell in October to its lowest level since he took office, according to a survey published by The Wall Street Journal and NBC News.

Support for Trump dropped another five percentage points since September and now hovers at 38 per cent, while those who disapprove of his performance in office comprised 58 per cent of the 900 people surveyed, according to the survey published on Sunday, Efe news reported.

Although the majority of Republicans -- some 80 per cent -- approve of Trump's performance as President, the results of the survey suggest that his political "base" is eroding.

This was the lowest rating in modern times for a US president at this point in his tenure. Fellow Republican George W. Bush had 88 per cent approval at this point, although that rating was garnered in the wake of the September 11 attacks, while Democrats Barack Obama had 51 per cent support and Bill Clinton 47 per cent.

Trump's ongoing slump in the polls has resulted from declining support among three key population groups: political independents, whites and whites without any college, NBC said.

For example, among white women without college degrees, last month 50 per cent said they supported Trump but the October poll found that only 40 per cent did.

The area in which the study's participants most strongly supported the President was in his management of Hurricane's Harvey and Irma, which affected Texas and Florida, with 48 per cent of those surveyed saying he did a good job compared with 27 per cent who said he did not.

However, Trump's handling of the post-Hurricane Maria situation in Puerto Rico has received the support of just 29 per cent of respondents.

With the US economy growing at an annualized 3 per cent rate last month, 42 per cent of the interviewees said they approved of Trump's handling of the economy, while 37 per cent did not.

But just 35 per cent gave him good marks on his handling of foreign policy, with just 34 per cent supporting Trump on his North Korea position and 24 per cent on his stance vis-a-vis Iran.

In other areas, 33 per cent of those surveyed said they supported Trump on his handling of the Las Vegas massacre, where a lone gunman killed 58 people and wounded hundreds more, and 30 per cent said that they approved of his handling of the NFL player protest controversy.

In healthcare, just 27 per cent of those surveyed said they approved of Trump's handling of the issue while 57 per cent said they disapproved.