Pew: Trump, GOP dragged down by internal party divisions

President Trump has a lower approval rating at this point in his administration than any of the five previous presidents, according to a Pew Research Center survey released Monday.

Trump registers a 39 percent approval rating. Of his five immediate predecessors, only Bill Clinton was below the 50 percent mark in April of his first term, when his rating was 49 percent favorable.

Trump is dragged down in the survey by high levels of opposition from Democrats, only 7 percent of whom give him a favorable rating. By contrast, Clinton, who had the previous low from an opposition party, still got 24 percent approval from Republicans.

The Pew survey found that the public’s confidence in Trump to work effectively with Congress has plunged from 60 percent in December to 46 percent. A plurality of respondents — 45 percent — say that Trump’s policies have put the U.S. in a weaker position internationally, compared with only 31 percent who said the U.S. is in a stronger position.

{mosads}Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) fares far worse than Trump, coming in at only 29 percent approval. Fifty-four percent said they disapprove of the job Ryan is doing as Speaker, including 31 percent of Republicans or conservative-leaning independents.

And while the favorability ratings for both parties have declined since January, Republicans fare worse than Democrats.

The GOP’s favorability rating has dropped from 47 percent to 40 percent. Democrats have fallen from 51 percent to 45 percent.

That’s in part due to divisions within the GOP itself.

Sixty-eight percent of voters say the Republican Party is mostly divided, compared with 48 percent who say the same about Democrats.

Fifty-seven percent of Republicans say their party is mostly divided, and 58 percent of Democrats say their party is mostly united.

Republicans are viewed as stronger on gun rights, trade and taxes, as well as the top two issues to voters: terrorism and the economy.

Democrats are viewed as stronger on government spending, immigration, education, healthcare, abortion, the environment and, in an unusual swing, have seized the advantage on foreign policy.

Last year, Republicans had the advantage on foreign policy,  46 percent to 38 percent. Now, Democrats are up, 49 percent to 36 percent.

The Pew survey of 1,501 adults was conducted between April 5 and 11 and has a 2.9 percentage point margin of error.