{UAH} TRUMP'S APPROVAL RATING STEADY DESPITE SHUTDOWN

Trump’s Approval Rating Steady Despite Shutdown, WSJ/NBC News Poll Says

At the same time, more Americans blame him than Congress for the impasse

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By Michael C. Bender
The Wall Street Journal

Jan. 27, 2019 9:00 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON—President Trump’s standing among Americans remained effectively unchanged even as he presided over the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history, the latest example of how his unusual brand of politics has resonated with a strong core of supporters.

Mr. Trump’s approval rating was at 43% in a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, with 54% disapproving of his job performance. That was the same mark as in a December survey taken 10 days before the start of the shutdown. The latest survey was conducted over a four-day period that ended Jan. 23, two days before Mr. Trump backed off his demand for border wall funding in what was widely viewed as a victory for congressional Democrats.

Mr. Trump’s approval rating was steady even though more Americans blame the president than Congress for the shutdown, a change from past funding fights. Mr. Trump bears responsibility for the funding lapse, according to 50% of respondents, compared with 37% who said Democrats in Congress were most to blame.

In 2013, more Americans blamed the GOP lawmakers leading Congress than then-President Barack Obama, just as they did in the three shutdowns during President Bill Clinton’s time in office.

While the president has displayed remarkable resilience—his approval rating has never been more than 4 percentage points higher than his current mark, or 5 percentage points lower—there has been an erosion in Americans’ views of how equipped Mr. Trump is for the job.

Americans still give Mr. Trump positive marks on the economy. Some 51% in the new survey approved of his handling of the economy, with 45% disapproving. But asked to rate him on a set of leadership and personal qualities, as many or more Americans in the survey gave the president a low score than a high one.

Fred Yang, a Democratic pollster who helped conduct the survey with Republican Bill McInturff, said the data show “a seemingly contradictory picture.” There is “little to no change to the president’s core ratings,” he said, while the poll shows that “despite two more years on the job, Donald Trump has not increased the public’s confidence in his ability to do the job as president.”

When he took office, a plurality of Americans—45% to 33%—said Mr. Trump would change business as usual in Washington. In the new poll, that split has disappeared as 39% said the president has been good at effecting change, while 39% disagreed.

A Partisan Shift on the Border WallShare favoring a wall or fence between the U.S. and Mexico, 2016 and 2019Source: WSJ/NBC News telephone polls, mostly recently of 900 adults conducted Jan. 20-23, 2019; margin of error +/- 3.27pct. pts.

After he was sworn in, a plurality of Americans, some 46%, said Mr. Trump was effective at getting things done, while 34% disagreed. Those percentages have nearly flipped over two years. In the new poll, 38% said Mr. Trump is effective, while 46% said he is not.

Meanwhile, 50% said they were not at all confident that Mr. Trump has the right set of personal characteristics to be president, according to the poll.

That is up 4 percentage points from two years ago, and more than twice the share who said the same thing about George W. Bush in 2001. Just 15% said they weren’t confident about then-President Obama’s personal characteristics for the job in 2009.

Fewer people said they believed the country is moving in the right direction than at any time since Mr. Trump took office. Just 28% said the country is moving in the right direction, down 5 percentage points from last month and the lowest since the heat of the presidential campaign in the summer of 2016, when just 18% said they held that optimistic view.

Similarly, 63% in the new survey said the country is on the wrong track, up 7 percentage points from a month ago and the highest mark since December, 2017.

When poll respondents were asked to offer their feelings about the current state of the country, 68% used negative words and phrases, such as “disaster” and “hard times.” Just 17% used positive descriptors.

Asked about the new Democratic majority in the House, just over 30% of respondents said they believed it would bring the right kind of change, while just over 20% said it would bring the wrong kind of change. More than 40% said it would not being much change either way.

Nancy Pelosi, who has gained new powers to oppose Mr. Trump through her role as House speaker, had a 28% approval rating, well below Mr. Trump’s and unchanged since last month. Her disapproval rating grew to 47% from 41% the month before.

While Mr. Trump’s approval rating remained unchanged, some dynamics underlying that rating shifted, as the president seemed to reinforce the opinions previously held by many Americans.

Nearly three in 10 respondents, or 29%, said they strongly approved of the president’s job performance, a 2-percentage-point increase from last month. Meanwhile, 47% said they strongly disapproved, a 3-percentage-point increase during the same time. It was the highest “strongly disapprove” number for the president since last January.

The Journal/NBC News poll surveyed 900 adults from Jan. 20-23. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.27 percentage points.

Write to Michael C. Bender at Mike.Bender@wsj.com

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