President Trump at the White House on June 17. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
74% of Americans say the country is heading in the wrong direction, including 63% of Republicans — up from 42% in May, according to a new poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Why it matters: President Trump generally enjoys strong approval ratings within the Republican Party, but the state of the country may be eroding some of that support.
- "Presidents seeking four more years in office typically rely on voters being optimistic about the direction the country is headed and eager to stay the course — a view most Americans don’t currently hold," AP's Julie Pace and Emily Swanson report.
The big picture: Most Americans polled by AP-NORC were pessimistic about the country's trajectory amid competing crises of outrage against racial injustice and police brutality, a global pandemic and sustained high unemployment.
What they found: 54% of Americans — and 22% of Republicans — said that President Trump has made things worse after the killing of George Floyd and following weeks of protest, per AP.
- 37% of Americans approved of Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, down from 44% in March.
- 64% of Americans said that Trump's presidency has made the country more divided — including 37% of Republicans.
Methodology: The AP-NORC polled 1,310 adults from June 11-15 with a sample from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. Margin of error ± 3.7%.