Trump’s approval rating holds steady at 46 percent: poll

President Trump’s approval rating is steady at 46 percent five weeks before the midterm elections, according to a Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released exclusively to The Hill on Monday.

The poll found that 46 percent approve of Trump’s job performance, while 54 percent disapprove.

That’s in line with other polls showing the president with an approval rating in the mid-forties. The RealClearPolitics polling average has his approval rating around 44 percent.

Trump garners a slightly higher, but still underwater, approval rating among male voters, 49 to 51 percent. But he has a lower approval rating among female voters of 44 to 56 percent.

“Trump numbers remain steady in the mid-forties as the pummeling in the press he took in the last month failed to create much change in the face of a strong economy,” said Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll co-director Mark Penn.

“The gender gap keeps sharpening with men strongly supporting Trump and women backing away.”

Trump continues to get high marks for his handling of the economy, with 57 percent of voters who approve. A majority of voters also approve of how the president is fighting terrorism and creating jobs.

But a small majority of voters — 53 percent — believe the country is on the wrong track, compared to 38 percent who believe it’s on the right track.

Penn pointed to a new trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada that replaces the framework of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as a potential boon ahead of the November elections.

“Huge majorities approve of the presidents economic policy,” Penn said. “Today’s NAFTA deal has potential for some lift this month as everyone had said it couldn’t be done.”

The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll online survey of 1,228 registered voters was conducted September 26 to 27. The partisan breakdown is 37 percent Democrat, 32 percent Republican, 29 percent independent and 2 percent other.

The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll is a collaboration of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and The Harris Poll. The Hill will be working with Harvard/Harris Poll throughout 2018.

Full poll results will be posted online later this week. The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll survey is an online sample drawn from the Harris Panel and weighted to reflect known demographics. As a representative online sample, it does not report a probability confidence interval.