Jul 26, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Poll: 100 days from election, 80% say country is heading in wrong direction

Donald Trump.

President Trump. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

President Trump is facing serious headwinds with 100 days left until the election, according to an AP-NORC poll out Sunday.

By the numbers: 8 in 10 respondents said the country is heading in the wrong direction — more than at any other point during Trump's presidency.

  • Just 32% support Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, also a new low in the AP-NORC tracker. 81% of Republicans still approve of Trump's job performance, but only 68% support his handling of the coronavirus.
  • 38% of Americans say the economy is good, down from 67% in January. Trump’s standing on the economy has also fallen in recent months.
  • Trump has a 38% job approval rating, within the range it has stayed for most of his presidency.

The bottom line: The last time a candidate sustained as big a national lead for as long as Joe Biden has over Trump was 24 years ago, when Bill Clinton romped past Bob Dole, according to the New York Times' Nate Cohn.

But as a reminder of how many twists we have ahead, consider Oct. 7, 2016 — one month before Election Day, Axios' Mike Allen points out.

  • On that single day, the "Access Hollywood" tape surfaced, WikiLeaks posted hacked Clinton campaign emails, and the Obama administration formally accused the Kremlin of hacking the Democratic National Committee.
  • FBI director Jim Comey's bombshell was three weeks away.

Worth noting: About third of Americans are entirely opposed to reopening schools in the fall, which the Trump administration has aggressively pushed for in recent weeks. Nearly half of respondents say it would require major adjustments.

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