President Trump’s approval rating is at 45 percent, according to a new Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll released exclusively to The Hill on Thursday.
Fifty-five percent of Americans disapprove of Trump, making his overall favorability rating about the same as it was during last month’s poll. In April, the Harvard/Harris poll found Trump’s favorability at 44 percent.
This month’s poll finds his marks have improved 5 percentage points with independent voters, but have fallen 3 percent among Republicans.
The current findings are about in line with the current RealClearPolitics average, which has Trump at a 44 percent approval rating.
On an issue-by-issue basis, the majority of Americans approve of Trump’s record on creating jobs, the economy and the fight against terrorism, according to the latest Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll.
The poll also finds that 45 percent believe the American economy is on the right track while 40 percent believe it is on the wrong track. Just 36 percent of those polled think the country as a whole is on the right track.
Trump’s approval is underwater when it comes to foreign affairs, immigration and government administration, according to the poll.
Overall, the latest Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll shows few changes to the overall dynamics over the past month — Democrats still hold a significant lead on generic ballot tests and party favorability.
“The president’s support is on the high side of his ratings as people back his Korea strategy an 68 percent see the economy as strong,” said Mark Penn, the co-director of the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll.
“Democrats in our poll are maintaining their edge going into the midterms and remain poised to win the House.”
For the bevy of politicians looking at future presidential bids, only two have favorability ratings that are above water, the poll finds.
Former Vice President Biden led the pack of the 20 politicians and government officials tested by the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll with a 53-percent favorable rating and a 32-percent unfavorable rating.
United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley is the only other person with a net-positive favorability rating — 34 percent of Americans view her favorably while 22 percent view her unfavorably. The rest said they haven’t heard of the former South Carolina governor, who is considered a rising star in the Republican Party.
The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll online survey of 1,347 registered voters was conducted May 21-22. 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.