Brokaw: Trump still has ‘strong following’

Former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw said Tuesday that President Trump “still has a very strong following” in areas that solidly supported him in the 2016 election.

In comments on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Brokaw said voters in those areas primarily blame the media and what they see as a “liberal cabal” against Trump. 

“We were in Powell, Wyo., a wonderful, classic, small town, community college, prosperous farm community, voted 70 percent for Trump,” Brokaw said.

{mosads}“So I went around and said, ‘Where are you now?’ [Sixty-nine point nine] percent, I’d say at this point, and they blame us [in the media],” said Brokaw. “They say, ‘You guys are all in the hands of the Democratic Party. It’s a liberal cabal against this president.’ 

“They don’t feel any connection between what we do and how they live their lives. And they’re not entirely wrong. Because they look at these shows doing analysis and commenting, and they don’t see anybody who looks like them or lives the lives that they do.”  

Brokaw conceded that Trump’s unfavorable ratings are very high, but also said he continues to hold his base despite recent upheaval at the White House and a failure to pass legislation around repealing and replacing ObamaCare. 

“Now, his negatives, obviously, are very high across the country, but in hardcore Trump country, he still has a very strong following.”

A July 27 Reuters poll showed 73.9 percent of Republicans approving on Trump’s performance, down from 79.9 percent the week prior and before a “skinny” repeal of ObamaCare had narrowly failed in the Senate. 

Trump’s overall approval rating in the RealClearPolitics average stands at 39.2 percent. 

Brokaw was anchor and managing editor of the NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. He still appears on NBC and MSNBC in the role of anchor emeritus to primarily provide commentary on current events.